In all those years I never read the third page, which specifically states that it is only approved for use there. He opened it up and didn’t recognize the readings! And wouldn’t you know it-it wasn’t an approved translation!Īlthough it was accurate, it was approved by the episcopal see that approves translations and texts for the United Kingdom. Then, this last year, I showed one of these books to my priest because I had a question about its use. I read them everywhere and recommended them to others along the way. They were also with me on my deployment to Afghanistan. I took those on pilgrimages, to adoration, and on road trips. I got the rest as needed, and used them for the next four years. When I started praying in the Office, a friend bought me the current book of the four-book set. I also pray the Hours with my wife on occasion and the book enables us to follow along together with the readings and responses with such ease that multiple phones would just not match. The books help because I know that the religious who pray the hours in community are not doing it on their phones. I’m not a monk (you knew that, right?), but when I pray the Hours, I like to imagine I’m in communion with the rest of the Church, many of whom are singing and chanting the Hours in community. My books never run out of battery, never have to be charged, or hurt my eyes, or have to receive updates, or require data, nor do they cause me to stay up at night with the now-infamous “blue light.” And as much as engineers try to make the perfect ergonomic phone, they’re still stiff and weird in our hands-and that will never change. I once wore the paint off some beads on a rosary, and it was a similar feeling-I knew that rosary was my rosary. Its compositions are natural and there is something special about flipping pages, overturning ribbons, and reading words I’ve read on the same page, over and over, and watching the pages become used, little by little. Holding a book in my hands is one of my favorite feelings. The feel and aesthetic together are incomparable. Not to forget, I will never use my pray books as a tool of sin. I’m never distracted-or rather-it is never the book that is distracting me and has zero potential to distract me. ![]() My Divine Office books, on the other hand, have one single end: the liturgy, prayer and devotion. Sometimes, with social media, it is also a near occasion of sin. My phone is used for a myriad of operations: email, media, calls, pleasuring reading, some games, and sometimes having fresh sushi delivered to me. I’m often distracted by technology-isn’t everyone? When I pray with my phone, it’s infinitely more difficult to not be in a hurry like I am with all the other apps and to not feel like I need to answer those messages I saw before slipping the phone into "do not disturb" mode. ![]() My smartphone is a multi-tool, a book is not. But I prefer the books to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, and here’s a few helpful reasons why. Yes, I know, and I do (when my books aren’t available). Then, too, I run into Catholics who inquire and the other popular response I receive is, “You know you can do that from your phone, right?”
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