opening day." The Office of Lauds reminds the Christian that the first act of the day should be praise, and that one's thoughts should be of God before facing the cares of the day. Liturgia horarum (1970) In the edition of the Roman breviary of 1970 which was revised according to the mandate of the Second Vatican Council, Lauds (Latin Laudes matutinae, pl.) has the following structure: The liturgical opening "O God, come to our aid: O Lord, make haste to help us" (unless Lauds are the first prayer of the day, in this case it is "Lord, open my lips and my mouth will proclaim your praise") The hymn, which is optional when combining with Matins A morning psalm, an Old Testament canticle, and a psalm of praise all of them with their antiphons A reading according to the liturgical day, season or feast A responsorial song or a short responsory The Benedictus, with its antiphon Preces The Lord's Prayer Concluding prayer Blessing and dismissal (if prayed a cleric is present), otherwise the celebration is concluded with "The Lord bless us…" All psalms and canticles are concluded with the doxology, "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen." (The current translation of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, given here, differs from the traditional English translation used in other countries.) The psalms and readings are distributed in a four-week cycle, which forms the heart of the prayer. Variations On feasts of saints the various parts of the hour may be taken from the office of the saint being celebrated or from common texts for the saints. If the feast has the rank of "memorial", any parts specifically provided for the saint (the "proper" parts) are used, while the other parts come from the weekday, with exception of the hymn (which may be optionally taken from the common texts), the antiphon for the Benedictus (which must be taken from the proper or the common), the intercession (which may be optionally taken from the common texts), and the closing prayer (which should be proper, or if missing, common). For a solemnity all texts are taken from the proper, or if some part is missing, from the common. On these days, the morning psalm is always Psalm 63, verses 2-9, the canticle is