Divine Office - Want to be sure that I'm doing it right

[dark lancer]

A few weeks ago I started praying parts of the Divine Office with the intention of gradually working my way to praying all of them each day. 

I have been using http://www.divinumofficium.com/cgi-bin/horas/officium.pl set to "All," "Divino Afflatu" and "regular."

I've been praying under the impression that I begin the first hour with the prayer under "ante Divinum officium," then read everything for the current hour until I get to the end, and at the last hour I add on the prayer under "post Divinum officium," all out loud.  For some reason I've had this nagging thought that I really should have a priest when I do this.

Also when I finish, I have been adding my daily Rosary and a novena prayer to follow one of the hours.

[CollegeCatholic]

You can pray the D.O. as a private devotion if you like, without a priest.

[dark lancer]

So I am doing it correctly as I have described?

[CollegeCatholic]

I think so?

Credo/glgas are better resources though.

[glgas]

Although it was allowed to read the full office in one sit, this was never recommended, nor used except necessity.

For the Divino Afflatu version the 'Ante Divinum Officium' and 'Post Divinum Officium' was optional. It was recommended before any hours and after any hours, so it was prayed several times a day. If one connected hours only at the beginning of the first and at the end of the last. If hours are connected the closing Pater is to be omitted, except after Vespers. Also if you connect other hours to the Lauds, the antiphon of the Blessed Virgin (Salve Regina for per annum) is prayed only after the last connected hour.

The Matutinum and Laudes could be prayed at the previous afternoon (after 2 PM) , after the Vespera and before the Completorium of the previous day. Also the two were recommended to be prayed together.

In case case the horas should be prayed in sequence, starting with Matutinum and ending with the Completorium (note the rule for the anticipation above)

The recommended times: Matutinum, Laudes, Prima, Tertia before Mass, Vespera after two o'clock, Completorium the last prayer of the day. This was the sequence in the dioceses. In some seminaries the Tertia was after the Mass.

I myself pray in the wee hours the Matins and Lauds,  about 5 AM the Prime (and read the Mass at home) about 9AM the Tertia, at noon the Sexta, 3PM the Nona, 5PM the Vespers, and 7PM the Completorium. This is only for old retired men, who are quite free with their time, including sleeping time.

[Revixit]

I myself pray in the wee hours the Matins and Lauds,  about 5 AM the Prime (and read the Mass at home) about 9AM the Tertia, at noon the Sexta, 3PM the Nona, 5PM the Vespers, and 7PM the Completorium. This is only for old retired men, who are quite free with their time, including sleeping time.

isn't it required that Matins and Lauds must both be prayed before sunrise? 

also, isn't your schedule for prayer much like that used by religious in monasteries? 

it seems similar to me, though my experience is strictly limited to what i've read in books and a couple of retreats with Benedictines who allowed those of us on retreat to sit in choir and pray the hours with them when we wished to. 

i think religious may pray Vespers and Compline somewhat later than you do but not a lot later or they wouldn't have enough sleep before getting up for Matins and Lauds.

Tim advised me to pray only Compline (Completorium) for a few weeks before adding another hour.  that was a good suggestion for me.  i had started with Matins and Lauds and it was difficult.  trying to pray Matins and Lauds aloud but not loud enough to wake anyone else was hard on my throat, partly because they take so long to say, partly because i had to speak so quietly.

[karyn_anne]

i always had the impression that non-religious (including diocesan priests) usually said matins (they broke the nocturns up) throughout the day or after the morning.

It was meant to be said during the wee hours of the night originally but very few orders would do that now.

The teaching Dominicans of Wanganui for instance say Matins in anticipation of the next day at around 4pm every day.

[dark lancer]

A couple things I'm still unsure of:

It seems that I am reciting the same few Psalms for a particular hour over the course of a few days.  Is this right?  I'm just going by what the site generates for me.

Using the site I linked to above, each verse of the Psalms as well as some of the prayers have asterisks among them.  Do I recite the line marked Ant. each time I come to an asterisk?

[glgas]

A couple things I'm still unsure of:

It seems that I am reciting the same few Psalms for a particular hour over the course of a few days.  Is this right?  I'm just going by what the site generates for me.

Using the site I linked to above, each verse of the Psalms as well as some of the prayers have asterisks among them.  Do I recite the line marked Ant. each time I come to an asterisk?

The pre-1911 Roman Breviary and the Monastic breviary up to 1970 (may be even later) use the same few psalms for the minor hours. For the Roman Breviary this changed, the psalms are evenly distributed throughout the day, except for 1st and 2nd class fests, where psalm 118 is prayed for the the minor hours like it is for Sunday.

The asterisk for the psalm verses are for the chanting only: there is one type of cadence before the asterisk, and an other type for the end of the verse. For reciting the office the asterisk has no effect.

An antiphon is recited/chanted before and after each psalm for Matins, Lauds and Vespers; and before the first psalm and after the last psalms for the minor hours. After 1960 the antiphon is to be recited/chanted always in full, before that for semiduplex-simplex-ferial; offices before the psalm(s) only the part before the asterisk (in the antiphon itself) is to be recited/chanted

[dark lancer]

I've been finding that sometimes I'm unable to pray some of the Little Offices--usually Sexta or Nona--during their respective hours because I am away from my computer for some reason.  Is the window for praying these hours limited to the 60 minutes of that hour, or is it okay to pray it a little earlier or later than usual?