Liturgy Of The Hours Made Easy!

For several years I have had a desire to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, or Divine office. One of the things which held me back was how complicated it seemed: a four volume set of books, with lots of flipping between pages, and five offices to pray. Whenever I sat with others praying the Office I became somewhat confused and wondered how I could attempt it on my own without someone to walk me through it!

While again researching the LOTH (not to be confused with LOTR!) I came across this ipod app. Surely it couldn't be as easy as it seemed? No expensive books to buy, no hours of working out how to use the books and flipping from one section to another. Well it is that easy!

This morning I prayed Lauds for the first time, all in the correct order. I was even able to listen to the beautiful hymn for today's Morning Prayer. Very peaceful, and so easy to follow. I still intend to but the LOTH books, but for the moment this is a wonderful way to ease into it both financially and logistically.

So now I am feeling much more confident that we will be able to include several of the LOTH prayers in our schedule.

Eggs For The Poor.

For many years I have wanted to keep chickens, and for the boys to sell the excess eggs. I hadn't given much though to what we would do with the money, but it seemed like a nice idea to try at some point in the future. Well that point in the future has arrived. A few months ago we bought six hy-line brown chickens and a coop. Two or three chickens would have been enough for us, but I wanted to buy a few extra so we would have enough eggs to sell.

We decided to sell the excess eggs to members of our parish, and donate all of the money to Father Richard Ho Lung's Missionaries of the Poor, who do amazing work with the poorest of the poor in Jamaica, Philippines, Indonesia, and many other parts of the world.

Selling the eggs has been a great opportunity for Bilby, as he is learning how to approach people and tell them about what we are doing, how to handle money and give change, and how to care for the chickens who are laying their eggs for the poor.

Our fellow parishioners have been eager to buy our eggs, and make donations. When I attempted to give our parish priest a dozen eggs, he insisted that we take $10, and then enthusiastically told those listening all about the great work that Fr. Ho Lung is doing!

Today we are able to make our first donation of $125 to the MOP (Missionaries of the Poor) which is rather exciting for Bilby. It's not a lot, but every little bit helps. We've been looking at the MOP website, and seeing the children who we have been helping which makes it all the more real.