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Author Topic: Daily Prayer Life  (Read 2204 times)

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Daily Prayer Life
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2013, 04:13:43 AM »
Quote from: Jimbo9889
Surely one does not over exert themselves for God, for Grace makes all things easy but nonetheless I ask for your help in this matter as well. I try to have a time set to prayers during the Morning and the Evening. I kind of created my own prayer "rule" if you will, involving about 5 Daily Prayers, 2 Spiritual Readings, and 1 Prayer Unique to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday:

(1) Morning Offering of the Brown Scapular -
(2) Morning and Evening Prayers to the Holy Spirit (also contains Our Father, Hail Mary, recitation of the Creed) -
(3) The Little Office of the BVM -
(4) Short Prayer from the 1962 Missal -
(5) Litany Reading/Prayer to BVM, Sacred of Jesus, or Holy Name of Jesus from the '62 Missal -
(6) Spiritual Reading from "A Year With The Church Fathers" -
(7) Spiritual Reading from "Divine Intimacy" -
(8) If Friday, Then The Rosary in Offering Up to Enemy Love; If Saturday Evening, Then Preparation for Holy Mass; If Sunday, Then Continued Preparation for Mass in the Morning and Vespers and Compline Prayers after Mass.

My issue here is that I feel that all of this necessary but at the same time another part of me feels its too time consuming and demands more than my station in life would require to show devotion. Yet at the same time I feel like as if I weren't to do all of this I would be missing something. I was thinking that if in trying to save time, [unless I really undeniably or spontaneously intuit the need to pray it] I would have this modified prayer "rule" instead:

(1) Morning Offering of the Brown Scapular -
(2) Morning and Evening Prayers to the Holy Spirit (also contains Our Father, Hail Mary, recitation of the Creed) -
(3) The Little Office of the BVM -
(4) Spiritual Reading from "A Year With The Church Fathers" -
(5) Spiritual Reading from "Divine Intimacy" -
(6) If Friday, Then The Rosary in Offering Up to Enemy Love and Forgiveness; If Saturday Evening, Then Preparation for Holy Mass; If Sunday, Then Continued Preparation for Mass in the Morning and Vespers and Compline Prayers after Mass.

I wear the Laymen's Brown Scapular being Part of the Brown Scapular Confraternity, so (#1) seems necessary to me. Praying from the The Paraclete (#2) seems important to me as well as would Praying the Little Office of the BVM (#3) since its a part of the Confraternity Promise. The Spiritual Readings from "Divine Intimacy" and "A Year with the Church Fathers" (#4 & 5) serve as a kind of Self-Reflection of the Day and Prayerful Requests too. Typically the end of the Week means a lot to people of all the Monotheistic/Abrahamic Faiths and for Christians, Friday often is the day of the Lords Suffering, Saturday is a day to wind down on the world and its concerns to begin focusing and preparing for the next day, Sunday is Mass which ought to be marked with the highest number of Prayers and Devotions. (#6)


Without commenting directly on your prayer rule I would simply suggest that you speak to a traditional priest, preferrably your confessor. One of the great advantages of having a spiritual director is that they can guide you based on experience, age, spiritual maturity etc. Let them be the doctor who prescribes the medicine you need. This is very crucial and the Fathers and ascetics of the Church speak with one voice in recommending a director.

Also keep the analogy of a weight lifter in mind. When beginning to work out you don't start by bench pressing 500 lbs. Work your way up, gain strength and STICK WITH IT! Remember also that 5 minutes of truly devout prayer is more beneficial then speaking long prayers while your mind thinks about the movie you saw last week.

A great way to begin the day before your feet even hit the floor is to make the Sign of the Cross while saying a short ejaculatory prayer such as: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me" or "Glory to thee Lord Jesus Christ".......etc.