Liturgia de las Horas App

Pray the Liturgy of the Hours in the most beautiful Spanish translation.

WHY THIS TRANSLATION

There are many versions of the psalms in Spanish, and almost all of them are correct. Very few, however, lend themselves to being prayed.

The psalms were not written to be read silently: they are poems to be sung, made up of concrete images—the rock, the refuge, the shepherd, the servant. This translation leaves them as they are. Where other versions explain the image to leave no room for doubt, this one trusts in it: the rock remains a rock, and the servant remains a servant. That is why it has a natural rhythm, it is easily memorized, and it sounds like what it is: a sung prayer.

And it's not just a matter of ear. Sometimes, in an attempt to be more precise, a translation ends up saying something else entirely. In the hymn from the Letter to the Philippians, many versions recount that Christ did not cling to his divine nature, as if it were something he could lose and to which he reluctantly relinquished it. This version says that he "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped": precisely because he was God, he didn't need to prove it. It is more beautiful, and more faithful to the hymn, which descends effortlessly from glory to the cross.

God, who is truth, goodness, and beauty, infuses poetry into everything he does. A prayer that sounds good is no less serious: it is one that is recited better.

WHAT THE APP OFFERS

• Daily prayer: monthly calendar, direct access to today, and Lauds, Vespers, and Compline for the day you choose.

• Swipe to switch between the calendar and each hour.

• Read aloud, prayer by prayer, with the text highlighted and centered on the screen. It continues playing even when your phone is locked, with controls in the notification and on the lock screen.
• Two-voice reading, like in a choir: one voice leads the announcement, intones the antiphons, and reads the short reading and petitions, while the other voice prays and responds. It uses two Spanish voices from the phone's voice engine, and you can choose which one leads.

• The reading follows the liturgy: the rubrics and biblical quotations are not read, the Lord's Prayer is recited in full, and there are silences after the short reading, for the personal intentions of the prayers, and during the examination of conscience.

• Pray offline: today's prayers are saved when you open the app, and the pages you visit remain available even without a signal.

• On days with two services—one for Argentina and one for other countries—you choose the one that corresponds to you.

• Customizable font and size, with a preview.

• Automatic dark mode: black background and cream text for praying at night.

• Respects the system's "Remove animations" setting.

• For Android phones and tablets.

NO DISTRACTIONS

Free and ad-free. No account is needed, and the app doesn't collect any data. If it helps you pray, you can make a voluntary donation from the information panel: it doesn't unlock anything.

The texts are from liturgiadelashoras.github.io.