Benedictus Antiphons 4th Week of Advent

Consider this a Catholic blogosphere straight -arm.

While nearly every other Catholic blogger out there is doing his annual duty by mentioning the O Antiphons (again) and perhaps adding (yet another) perspective on them, I will rebel by highlighting the Benedictus Antiphons for the 4th Week in Advent.  So there. *

Sunday
Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou among women, alleluia.

Monday
The Lord says: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, alleluia.

Tuesday
Arise, Arise, put on strength, O arm of the Lord.

Wednesday
I will place salvation in Sion, and glory in Jerusalem, Alleluia

Thursday
Be comforted, by comforted, O my people, say the Lord, your God.

Friday
Lo, all things are accomplished which were said by the Angel of the Virgin Mary.

Saturday (December 24th)
The Savior of the world shall rise like the sun, and sill come down into the womb of the Virgin, as the shower of rain upon the grass, alleluia.

Sunday (Christmas Day)
Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will, alleluia, alleluia.


I hope the remaining days of Advent are good for all of you.
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* I like the O Antiphons just fine.  This post is just for fun.

Monastic Diurnal: Lancelot Andrewes -vs- St. Michaels Press

A reader writes:

I have a question about the Monastic Diurnal: Contents aside, which of the two editions out there is better quality as far as durability is concerned? (One thing that concerns me, for example, about the LA Press edition is its location of the Psalter - similar to the Anglican Breviary). I have read mixed reviews of both books on that subject and was wondering what your experience with each of them has been in that area. Thanks!

It is tough to discuss the two editions without touching on some of the content. There are folks out there that will purchase based on quality alone but be disappointed later on. I want them to have a better idea of what they might be purchasing but I'll try to keep it short.

Here are the two diurnals again, with a pen in front (my Red Pen of Doom, used to grade papers, mwuhaha) to give you some perspective on the size. The Lancelot Andrewes Press edition is noticeably thinner and slightly taller. However the thinness of the Andrewes edition means that it can easily fit in your back pocket. I have done this several times. Just try not to sit down on it because the cover takes a bit to get its shape back... The cover is the same material as the Anglican Breviary. It feels like a hard but flexible shell, not imitation leather.

I got my copy on eBay, so I don't know how long it has been in use. Nevertheless you can see here that because the Andrewes edition uses a stiff-shell material its end papers want to pull away from the cover . When this happens it reveals that the stiffness is not a result of undercover boards but the material itself. This is easy enough to glue for a quick fix. Yes it is a lesser quality than leather, but it adds to the durability because it isn't so delicate. This is a tough material.

Here we see the print in the Andrewes edition. The text is good size and bold. Keep in mind that both of these editions are reprints of revisions of books going back to the first half of the 20th Century. So the text formats in both represent that time period. Take a look at the collects here and you will three present for St. Luke. There is a fourth on the next page. This is pretty common and is done to accommodate Anglicans and Catholics of different stripes. The introduction to the book gives a good indication of how to tell the difference.



The Andrewes editions gives you the prayers before and after the Divine Office, as well as the Ave. Pater. Credo. previously said before each hour.

Here is the St. Michael's Abbey Press Monastic Diurnal. I bought mine some time ago. In fact is it one of the first books I ever mentioned on this blog. The cover is a flexible Moroccan Leather previously used by Baronius Press back in the day to clothe their Missals and Bibles. It is really nice and getting better with age. Hands down, this cover is more elegant than the Andrewes edition.   I tried to take a photo that would show you the quality, which I hope you can see. I hope they are still printing this book with the same material.

Here is the psalter. I like having the Latin and English. This is the Vulgate translation of the Psalms and a proprietary English. A benefit of this edition is that if you visit a traditional Benedictine monastery or convent then you can use this to participate. You can't do that with the Andrewes press, at least as a Catholic.  [I stand happily corrected!  Comment from Brian M:  Dear Matt, you may wish to note that the All Saints Sisters of the Poor, a former Anglican sisterhood in Catonsville, MD, which recently converted en masse to the Church and was established as a priory of Diocesan right, uses the Andrewes Press edition of the Diurnal for their daily office.] 



Here is the psalter, in the middle, where all breviary psalters should be placed.

Here is the Andrewes Press psalter placement. Up front. I find it a bit more confusing than the the St. Michael's edition. This photo also shows the shorter ribbons and the thinness of the cover material. I think the gilt edges are better on the Andrewes edition though.

The St. Michael's edition comes with cheater cards to help you find your way around the Office.

The Catholic St. Michael's edition has an updated table of moveable feasts until 2066.

I hope this helps. Quality wise I think this is a toss up. The Lancelot Andrewes edition is more of a workhorse. It is slightly more portable. Both versions have beautiful English. The Anglican one has the Coverdale Psalter. If it helps you to know which one I prefer, it is the Catholic St. Michael's Abbey edition because I appreciate having the Vulgate and English side by side.

Another Baronius Update [Updated!]

An update here, on my birthday, from Baronius Press. A small consolation I suppose.

----- Update 30th August 2011 -----

At the moment, our printer is still encountering problems with printing. He has experienced two typhoons recently, and the amount of water around the factory and the humidity in the air is making it very difficult to produce the books. Therefore, we are expecting the Breviary to be delayed until this is solved.

We only want to be able to take pre-orders once we know that the Breviaries are on the ship, so that we can give an accurate date of delivery (assuming the ship doesn't sink!). As soon as we have positive news, we will post additional information on our website. In the meantime, we thank you for bearing with us, and we will do our best to keep you informed.

--------------------------------

I check their site regularly, but today is the first time I saw this...

----- Update 20th July 2011 -----

For the last few weeks, our printer has not been able to carry on production of the Breviary due to exceptional weather circumstances. At the moment, we do not have an exact schedule, but we anticipate to receive an update in the next week or so. As soon as we have new schedule confirmed it will be post it here.

We have taken the decision that the Roman Breviary will be sold exclusively to individual customers by Baronius Press and not sold via any other retailers or vendors.

http://www.baroniuspress.com/forthcoming_titles.php?wid=12

I imagine there are quite a few upset retailers now, who have been waiting to carry "the big one" for several years and having to put up with customers constantly asking if they have heard anything. Nevertheless if we want Baronius to be around for many more years we need to understand they have to protect their profits.

Review: Mundelein Psalter

I love this book. Here is the Mundelein Psalter, published by Hilenbrand Books, a pointed edition of Morning, Evening, and Night Prayer for the modern Liturgy of the Hours. I don't normally pray the modern Office but if I had the opportunity to sing it with this book I might consider doing so. It is extremely easy to use. I suspect a group of lay folk with minimal musical experience (or a family?) would be singing the office within minutes after cracking this open. When the Office is sung rather than merely read or spoken its character can be fully realized. What we do in the office is not just a duty but divine worship.





Because it is meant to be used in choir and not for personal use, the book is large. The psalm tones used are the "Meinrad Tones" written by Samuel Weber, OSB. They make the Grail Psalter not just tolerable but somewhat beautiful.

The layout is amazing. The text, font, and spacing choices are perfect.

You sing the antiphon using the psalm tone below, which I assume the cantor would do . Then everyone else can get the tone in their head to use for the entire psalm. The ease of use of the Mundelein Psalter and its simplicity in form is brilliant and highlights the proper function of the antiphons.

The book contains a hymnal of actual music and texts for the Liturgy of the Hours. These aren't the ecumenical hymns found in the Catholic Book Publishing 1975 edition. They are the real deal. The Te Lucis Ante for Compline uses the modern Latin edition but the side by side English is the old version. I found that interesting.

Having the hymns and their translations alone makes the book worth owning. Whatever hymns not included can be found in the Liber Hymnarius and using this book is recommended by the Mudelein Psalter.

I imagine the tones could get old quick, but it is far better than singing recto tono.

A table of the tones for responsories, intercessions, and collects.

Sewn binding. It could use another ribbon, frankly.

This book is awesome and should be owned by anyone who loves the Divine Office. I promise you will spend time with it just singing through the Psalms.

Retro-Review: Prayer of Christians Interim Breviary

"Prayer of Christians" was the quickly created response to the Pope Paul VI's revision to the Divine Office by "National Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commission". It represents the spirit of the age of changing things quickly but not really knowing where everything was going. Because of that, this edition of the Divine Office has some very traditional elements mixed in with some wacky novelties. Just a couple of points and then we'll just look at the pictures.

-The Psalter is not infamous Grail version, but the same as the 1964 Roman Breviary which I reviewed (rebound) here. It is a translation of the Pius XII Psalter.

-The hymns part of each hour is called the "song". The Office of Readings begins with a sentence from scripture. I suspect this was done for ecumenical reasons.

-Finding the prayers for Sunday is difficult. To my eyes, I cannot see a way to tell which week in the Psalter you should be using, as you can in the 1975 Liturgy of the Hours by look at the Sunday you just celebrated.

-Some of the prayers and Collects are laughable. They are worse than the current (now defunct) ICEL versions.

-The antiphons aren't the same as the ones in the current version.

-The Scripture lessons in morning and evening prayer are different, or sometimes longer than the current edition.

-It is expected that Morning Prayer is the first prayer of the day, not the Office of Readings. "O Lord Open my Lips..." and Psalm 95 are placed at Morning Prayer.

Those are just some of the changes that came in this edition. I don't think this was, although I could be wrong, an obligatory version of the office. This was printed before the Latin Liturgia Horarum was complete, and so I believe most clerics were still praying the 1962 edition in some cut down and modified way. Once this came out many probably switched over to this right away though.

Here is a photo of the layout. It looks shabbily done. All black text.

The 1975 version text layout is a vast improvement in every way. Here is a comparison.

Artwork is what you would expect.

Here is a comparison of both editions. They are the same size. Prayer of Christians lacks the ugly "Chi Rho" symbol used in the 1975 Liturgy of the Hours. The cover has more texture, and the color is more mute than the newer one. It also doesn't seem nearly as cheap. However if you compare sometime like this to Breviaries that came out just ten years early you will notice immediately that they were cheaper. The first edition of the Liturgy of the Hours was worse in some ways. The modern printings are slightly better. I think that is representative of how they treated Liturgy in general at the time. It was to be for the common people and so they made it cheap. Cheap cheap cheap. Gratefully we are correcting that nowadays.

The binding. Sewn.

The canticles and other common cards are "ecumenical" translations and are promoted as such in the preface. Just look at the end of the Our Father.

Amazing 1957 Breviarium Romanum Find

Remember my post "They don't make em like they used to: Breviary Edition" ?

Well here is the real deal. Last week I was looking around my parish's book table, which is being prepared to be added to our library, and I found this:

...an immaculate, near mint condition of the 1958 edition that I own. (Actually, this one is a little higher end) It is as amazing as I would have expected. The art gilt pages are amazing, the pages are flawless, the ribbons perfect. It came complete with cards.

This set was probably never used. Certainly two out of the four weren't.

Notice how the ribbons are still stuck to the inside? Its almost like I unboxed them for the first time.

This is a close up of real art-gilt pages. (Red-under-gold) It is a true stamp of fine publishing. Sadly, this is a rarity nowadays...unless you are a high end protestant Bible publisher. The waviness you see here is because the pages haven't been flipped through yet. They are stuck together from the gilding.

The leather is nice and soft to the touch. The only flaw I could see is a little scuffing on the gilt edges.

I sold these on eBay in less that 5 hours for $275.00 to raise money for my parish. Not bad!

Answering Common Objections to Praying the Divine Office

Choir Stalls at St. Vincent Archabbey, where the monks pray the Office.

Long time readers of this blog know of my devotion to the Divine Office. I know many of you out there are saying it too in whatever form suits you best. Now, how many of you out there couldn't name 5 other people you know personally who are also saying it?

Besides those in the priesthood, I know about three people who say it faithfully every day.

There are any number of objections to its recitation - ignorance being one of them. If you are ignorant of the Office it isn't your fault. The Prayer of the Church isn't promoted as it should be. Here are some common objections and my answers to them.

1. I would love to pray the Divine Office, but I just don't have time.

A) Morning Prayer/Lauds in the traditional form takes 10 minutes. The Novus Ordo version takes about 7 minutes. Evening Prayer in either form takes no longer than 7 minutes. It can take a little longer while you are getting used to the rubrics. But once you have them down it takes little effort. Fitting in one of the little hours, or Daytime Prayer, is easy. If you take a break at work, simply use 4 of those minutes to say the Office. We make time for things that are important to us. The Prayer of the Church is important.

2. Isn't that the thing priests do? (sometimes followed by a scowl)

A) Yes, hopefully, it is. The fact is, the Divine Office is not promoted much by our priests. I suppose this is because many of them view it as a burden rather than a privilege to pray the Office. I once heard a priest's breviary referred to as "his wife." But laity praying the Office has a long history in the Church. In medieval times it is said that laity could recite the entire Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary from memory - and not just say it but sing it.

Especially since Vatican II there has been a greater emphasis on the laity to pray with the Church in the Divine Office. We can debate whether or not the new version is good or not, but we are blessed to have several older versions (1962, Monastic,etc) to choose from. The breviary is not just something "the priests' do".

3. I have 30 children, I can't possibly say the office.

A) What a blessing! You live in a monastery full of little monks and nuns. Start with Compline/Night Prayer before putting everyone to bed. It will connect your children to the Church in yet another way. As they get older you can pray Vespers/Evening Prayer immediately after dinner. The Office is a great catechetical tool. It contains scripture, saints, doctrine, tradition, and the Church year. It is the perfect way to keep your family connected to the Church throughout the week, especially if you can't make it to daily Mass with your family.

4. I would like to learn, but it is complicated.

A) No, it really isn't. It just seems that way. Start slowly if you need to. Trying to say Matins in the Benedictine version is not a good place to start. Compline is, in whatever form you choose. When you are ready to move on, you can find numerous guides to help you. There are also a ton of forums out there on the internet that are filled with people who know how to do it right. If you need help, just ask.

5. Why can't I just pray the Rosary? I say "Our Lady's Psalter" every day!

A) The Rosary is a wonderful prayer. I say it every day too, both the "regular version" and the Franciscan Crown. But the Rosary is not the Divine Office. They are different. Our Lady's Psalter is a substitute for the Office. Keep in mind that the Psalms are the prayers that God wants us to pray. He wrote them for us to say back to him.

I think there is a prevailing attitude that the Rosary is somehow more important than the Divine Office. It isn't. Our Lady would have heard the Psalms being chanted all the time in the temple or synagogue. The psalter, or the Psalms of David, are far more ancient than the Rosary. We even see evidence in the New Testament of this practice, when we hear of Peter and John going up to the temple for the Hour of None.

We shouldn't pit the Rosary and the Office against each other. It isn't an either/or but a both/and situation. Say them both with fealty and devotion.

6. The Liturgy of the Hours (or whatever version) is so expensive!

A) You can get any version of the Office for free online. If you have a smartphone or other portable device, there is a version for you. Its free! You can also purchase shorter breviaries that are inexpensive such as the small "Shorter Christian Prayer" or Monastic Diurnal.

Free versions of the Office online:
Divinum Officium (Traditional - in any meaning of the term.)
Universalis (Novus Ordo)

In the iTunes AppStore just do a search for an app. iBreviary Pro Terra Sancta will even let you say the Liturgia Horarum in Latin. Breviarium Meum is a new app for the 1962 Breviary put out by the Franciscans of the Immaculate based on Divinum Officium (website above).

New hand Missals available in September

I saw this on the Catholic Company today. You can pre-order a revised novus ordo hand missal and it will come in September. The price is $74.95. The website won't let me show you a picture here because it is copyrighted. Its ridiculous. Here is the link: Daily Roman Missal, Third Edition

In other news - I heard from someone *who definitely knows* that any new English edition of the Liturgy of the Hours is a long way off. In other words, don't hold your breath. If you want a more traditional Divine Office hopefully Baronius will come through for us shortly. There is also the African edition too.

Veni Creator from Stift Heiligenkreutz

Here are the monks of Stift Heiligenkreutz Abbey chanting the Veni Creator Spiritus on Pentecost during Vespers. This is from the modern form of the Divine Office - the Liturgia Horarum. Its nice to see monks doing their thing. I have often thought of getting a group of layfolk together to sing parts of the Office.

h/t NLM

Guest Review: Kenyan Liturgy of the Hours

Fr. Ramil E. Fajardo has sent in photos and a review of the (until now) mysterious Pauline Publications African Liturgy of the Hours. I am very grateful for his excellent contribution!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Matt,

I thought you might want to see a set of the 2009 Liturgy of the Hours issued by the bishops of Kenya, using the 2008 translation of the Grail Psalter from Conception Abbey.

It’s a good start – given the changes that are still to come regarding ICEL translations of the texts which are due to be addressed at some point now that the missal is approaching completion. At best, this set is a tiny foreshadowing or glimpse of what a future US Liturgy of the Hours might look like.

As you can see, it was authorized with the permission of Cardinal Llovera Prefect, and Arbp. Ranjith Secretary.

Some interesting things:

1) new translation of the Confiteor

2) addition of the 3 cycle Sunday antiphons for the Benedictus and Magnificat

3) removal of the Psalm-prayers

4) no artwork at all (and this is good since the only art was ‘bad’ art in the US Liturgy of the Hours/Christian Prayer) and

5) "Glory be to the Father” at the end of each Psalm, instead of "Glory to the Father"

The cover is a firm plastic, with end sheets in a cream-colored firm card-stock. This is very similar to the first editions of the Liturgy of the Hours and Christian Prayer published by Catholic Book Publishing Company during the 1970s. It is also similar to many books you would find in Rome (in fact, the set was produced in Italy). The books have square-edged pages as opposed to rounded corners.

The actual pages are rather thin and translucent, closer (it seems) just a tad bit to ‘tissue’ as opposed to ‘bible or missal paper’. The paper seems rather delicate and I wonder how it will hold up to finger oils and page-turning.

A drawback of this set is that each book has only three very soft woven ribbons and which seem to be fraying rather easily already. You can purchase the set for only $100 in Kenya, though it may get pricey when you include shipping to the USA. I bought mine on eBay.

See it here: http://www.paulinesafrica.org/liturgy_hours.html

Thought you’d like to see it!

Sincerely,

Fr. Ramil E. Fajardo

PHOTOS:

----------------------------------------------------

Matt's afterthought: If I were looking for a new edition of the Liturgy of the Hours, I would buy this one and use it until the new ICEL translation comes out...since that will probably be a while. The ribbon issue can be solved easily with a trip to your local Catholic book store to buy LOTH Ribbon inserts (and a pair of scissors). Also, for clerics, I am not sure what Canon Law says about using editions approved by other bishops' conferences. Could American priests use this instead of the US version?

Liturgia Horarum by MTF - Online Preview

A few months ago I sent an email to Midwest Theological Forum inquiring about their edition of the Liturgia Horarum. I know I'm not a big time blogger but a response would have been nice.

The other day I came across someone on eBay selling one of these editions and they showed the inside layout. So I thought I'd check them out again on MTF's website.

There is now a preview of the content inside that I didn't see before. The layout inside looks like they took the traditional two column route. I believe the Psalter is single column. It seems that they did a nice job. The only criticism from this distance is that the book is a bit larger than almost every other breviary out there. (8.25 x 5.25)

But without actually seeing one, its difficult to tell.

Here is the preview page. The leather set costs $900.

Epiphany Blessings!

Good morning and happy Epiphany to everyone. I was blessed today in that I woke up an hour before my alarm and was able to say lauds very early while the sun was just beginning to rise. There was one star in the sky (from my vantage point) as I looked out my window and the first antiphon was made even more appropriate:

Ante luciferum genitus, et ante saecula, Dominus Salvator noster, hodie mundo apparuit.

I took the day off from work and am now getting ready for Mass. This is a rare occasion for me these days!

Pius XII Psalter - Draw Your Own Conclusions

I found this again on the internet and I think it is well worth looking at here. The changes that occurred after Vatican II required preparation. Regardless of the reality, there were Modernists who actively were trying to break with the past. They wanted things to change in the Church. Now take a look at this advertisement from 1943. It is for the new Pius XII Psalter. I am not saying Pius XII was a modernist. But like our current Holy Father, everything the Pope does is subject to being used for someone or other's own pet project.

I have highlighted the important text. Pretty interesting. We now of course know the "fate" this new psalter. It was abandoned pretty quick as these things go. The neo-Vulgate is more aligned with St. Jerome's version which most traditional priests use.

From Pius XII Ad

Universalis for Kindle

I bought a Kindle a couple weeks back. Its a great device. Today I downloaded the Universalis software for my PC after I read that you could put the Divine Office (modern) onto your Kindle. I was wondering how they were going to take care of the navigation...

Universalis did a fantastic job. I'm sure the modern Liturgy of the Hours isn't everyone's cup of tea here. Nevertheless I believe this download is well worth the price you'll pay. You can even download the Universalis software and use it for a month free. The transfer to the *.mobi format is built in to the program. After that all you need to do is drag and drop the file onto your Kindle from your PC or Mac.

For those who want the traditional Divine Office (as I would) there is unfortunately no on-Kindle option that I know of right now except PDF copies which are tedious to navigate. The only other thing you could do is use the experimental browser to view the mobile Divinum Officium site (which I have done, and it works well too) but you'll need an internet connection for that. I went cheap and bought the Wi-Fi only version. So, having the Office on-Kindle in .mobi is best for me.

Remembering the Importance of the Divine Office

I found this in the book “The Divine Office” by Rev. E.J. Quigley (1920)

"At Matins bound;
at Prime reviled;
Condemned to death at Tierce;
Nailed to the Cross at Sext;
at None His blessed Side they pierce.
They take him down at Vesper-tide;
In grave at Compline lay,
Who thenceforth bids His Church observe
The sevenfold hours alway."

And the Latin, which I don't think has quite the same ring to it...

"Matutina ligat
Christum qui crimina purgat,
Prima replet sputis.
Causam dat Tertia mortis.
Sexta cruci nectit.
Latus ejus Non bipertit.
Vespera deponit.
Tumulo completa reponit.
Haec sum septenis
propter quae psallimus horas."

The book doesn’t seem to say who wrote this. I think it is very possible that the Divine Office is not more widely promoted because those bound to say it view it as a burden rather than a blessing to pray, even in its simpler forms.

Office Hours

Laszlo Kiss's famous and fantastic website "Divinum Officium" has an incredibly interesting chart on it. He wrote a script apparently that read through each version of the Divine Office (but not the Liturgy of the Hours) and timed the results. As the rubrics were simplified it appears the time really wasn't shortened all that much.

http://divinumofficium.com/www/horas/Help/times.html

On the Importance of the Divine Office

The following quote was recently posted on a forum I belong to and it struck me as quite profound. Devotion to the Office is not well promoted, or rather it is not very much promoted, and that is a shame.

In my diocese I know of precisely zero parishes with regular Vespers services and I know of zero lay groups devoted to its recitation.

"After the sacrifice of the Mass, the Church possesses no treasure so great as the Divine Office." "It is God's Church, the Spouse of Christ, who has done me the honour of choosing me for this great work - me, in preference to a hundred others. She puts into my hand her holy book of heavenly language, and asked me to read it words before God, to unity with the angels and saints in honouring God."

St. Alphonsus Liguori

By request: Diurnale Romanum by Preserving Christian Publications

Rich, in the comments, asked if I could show the Diurnale Romanum by Preserving Christian Publications. Here it is! Its true there aren't many photos out there on the different websites which carry it. In fact, on most sellers websites the photos for books are atrocious. There isn't much to review here. This is very straightforward.

I'll just mention a few things. First, even though this is advertised as having rounded corners and is even shown with rounded corners on some Catholic booksellers sites, the cover itself does not have them. It would be nice if it did, but no, they are square.

The text is bold typeface. A lot of ink was used in producing this. It provides for use in low light and I think cuts down in some of the loss occurring when printing the photocopy of the book. Nevertheless you may notice a few missing letters or half-letters in the book. (the errors are very sparse...) Overall this could pass for re-typset edition if you didn't look too closely.

There is artwork in this diurnal at the beginning of each section. It includes a bunch of extras for priests and laity. Overall, the Diurnale Romanum from PCP is a great budget breviary ($75 as compared to $300) for those comfortable with praying it entirely in Latin. There is no English in the book.

Binding is great. Not stiff in the least. Four ribbons and nice headbands.

Lays flat easily. Sewn hardbacks of good quality will do this.

Some of the artwork.

There is a bit of smudging around the edges. It looks like they may have cut a few corners (no pun intended) on the red dying of the edging.

Sorry of the cell phone picture. My camera battery died. In the front there are "card" pages sewn in with the repeated parts of the office. I like what they did with the Benedictus/Magnificat card. It is on the last page of the card section so it is easy to flip to.

A picture of the how the pages lay open. A little clumping. But this is forgivable.

Not a fan of the font on the spine. This picture shows its overall size. Phone looks good today, doesn't it?

Looks like PCP is temporarily out of stock in this title. You can find it on other sellers' websites. I know Aquinas and More has it, but the price is a little high.