Season of Prayer

Dear parishioners,

Summer is drawing to a close. The days have noticeably started to get a little shorter, there has been a touch of Autumn in the air, and a new school year is beginning. This time of year can seem to bring with it a return to a more regular rhythm of life. It’s good to get back to a sense of rhythm and normalcy. For that reason, it’s also a good time of year to re-examine our spiritual routine as well, and to commit (or recommit) to a regular spiritual regimen. There are great benefits to our interior life when we have a regular disciplined spiritual routine. A helpful spiritual routine I once heard from a priest runs on a framework of “daily, weekly, monthly”. Daily prayer. Weekly Sunday Mass (or Saturday evening). Monthly confession. Here’s a brief breakdown of this routine.

Daily prayer A few things to consider here are the when, where, and what of daily prayer. When is the best time for you to pray each day? Some people do well in the morning before all the hustle and bustle begins. A good recommendation here is to not go on your phone until after you’ve taken your time to pray.

Maybe it looks like having a cup of coffee and beginning the day in reflective silence with the Lord. Other people do well in the evening hours. Having a good prayer routine before bed is a good way to wind down and prayerfully look over the events of your day. A tried-and-true tool here is St. Ignatius of Loyola’s examen prayer which can be easily found online and is meant to serve as a prayerful guide to reflect on God’s presence in our life that day. Whatever time of day works best for you, keep in mind as well St. Paul’s admonition to “pray always”. Any time of day is a good time to stop what you’re doing for a moment, be mindful of God’s presence, and ask Him to continue to guide you.

The “where” of prayer is pretty open-ended. Prayer is good wherever it is offered. However, it’s best to find a place that is relatively quiet and free from distractions. Depending on your circumstances, this is sometimes easier said than done. Maybe you can find a chance to stop at an open church and pray.

Otherwise, a quiet room in the house or even outside can offer us a location for prayer.

There are all kinds of ways to engage the “what” of prayer.

Taking time to read the Bible and reflect on it, praying the rosary with attention and devotion, reading from a devotional book and pondering it, or turning to one of the many devotions the Church offers us are all good ways to pray. I always recommend that people invest time in learning to pray as the saints have taught us to pray—especially what the saints call “mental prayer”. Whatever devotions or practices of prayer you turn to, the point of them is to lead us into deeper relationship with the Lord. Sometimes we can fall into the trap of doing more thinking than praying during our prayer time. A good remedy for this is simply to speak to God in your own words about what is resonating with you in prayer.

Weekly Sunday Mass is the next part of the spiritual regimen. The Church places upon us the obligation to go to Mass every Sunday because there is no greater way we can offer worship to God since it’s the offering of the Body of Christ to the Father on our behalf. The Church also knows how prone we are to forget God when we don’t have that weekly reminder to keep God first in life and to sacrifice some time one day a week to come to church to worship Him.

Finally, monthly confession. This is a hard one for a lot of people,

but an indispensable one if we’re serious about growing in our spiritual lives. Sometimes you might need it more than once a month—especially if you’re battling any habitual mortal sins. The Lord is always eager and ready for us to respond to His call to repentance.

Following this regimen of “daily, weekly, monthly” is a sure way of growing more deeply and quickly in the spiritual life. May God bless you and your spiritual routine this Fall and always.

Fr. Patrick