An unexpected way to pray

[Muzhik]

Greetings! I wanted to pass on an unexpected way to pray during the day. I work for a company that supports computer servers across the country for different companies. As part of our security regulations, we are required to have passwords at least 13 characters long, with a mix of upper case, lower case, numbers, and symbols. Since I may have to enter this password 30+ times each day, it needs to be easily remembered, easily typed, and still meet the security standards.

One day I had let my password expire and I needed to come up with a new password RIGHT NOW. My password generator was coming up with junk – hard to remember and hard to type. I asked G_D for help, and was reminded of an article I had just read about Joan of Arc, so I came up with “St.JoanMaidOrl3ans”. (Mind you, this isn’t the password I came up with and used. This is an example only.) It was easy to remember and passed the standards test. So for the next 60 days I typed St. Joan’s name at least 30 times each day.

After that, I found myself using the names of saints to make passwords. It would be a saint-of-the-day from sometime this past week, usually identified with a place name or an attribute. It’s easy munging up the BVM’s name with one of her titles to make a long and almost unbreakable password.

The reason I’m writing is that I’ve been struggling all my adult life with different spiritual issues. After using this technique for a year and a half, I realized today that my spiritual issues are becoming not so overwhelming as before. The only difference in my life has been the fact that I am invoking the name of a saint many times each day. Somehow that is giving me the courage to face down my demons.

Just wanted to throw this out there to see if this technique helps anyone else.

 

[JRKH]

What a great Idea…

Peace
James

 

[Cricket2]

Great idea. I will keep this in mind the next time I need to come up with a password. I think given today’s attitude about Christianity a lot of folks would not be able to guess one like this. How about a favorite Bible Passage?

 

[mountee]

Very creative! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Used2beSherryG]

Love your idea! Thanks for sharing. I struggle with the password issue, too. This is going to be such a good experience. And of course, leads to some more research about our beloved saints, too!

 

[thistle]

Greetings! I wanted to pass on an unexpected way to pray during the day. I work for a company that supports computer servers across the country for different companies. As part of our security regulations, we are required to have passwords at least 13 characters long, with a mix of upper case, lower case, numbers, and symbols. Since I may have to enter this password 30+ times each day, it needs to be easily remembered, easily typed, and still meet the security standards.

One day I had let my password expire and I needed to come up with a new password RIGHT NOW. My password generator was coming up with junk – hard to remember and hard to type. I asked G_D for help, and was reminded of an article I had just read about Joan of Arc, so I came up with “St.JoanMaidOrl3ans”. (Mind you, this isn’t the password I came up with and used. This is an example only.) It was easy to remember and passed the standards test. So for the next 60 days I typed St. Joan’s name at least 30 times each day.

After that, I found myself using the names of saints to make passwords. It would be a saint-of-the-day from sometime this past week, usually identified with a place name or an attribute. It’s easy munging up the BVM’s name with one of her titles to make a long and almost unbreakable password.

The reason I’m writing is that I’ve been struggling all my adult life with different spiritual issues. After using this technique for a year and a half, I realized today that my spiritual issues are becoming not so overwhelming as before. The only difference in my life has been the fact that I am invoking the name of a saint many times each day. Somehow that is giving me the courage to face down my demons.

Just wanted to throw this out there to see if this technique helps anyone else.

Sorry to ask but I’m curious as to why you spell God as G_D. When you talk do you not pronounce the word God?

 

[IfYouLeadMe]

Thanks for sharing, this is a lovely idea… Must keep that in mind next time I need to create a password…

 

[DBT]

A very similar thing happened to me. We had a bit of a security meltdown this summer on my business servers and my IT guys suggested all the employees change not only their work passwords but their personal ones too.

I immediately started using some of my favorite Saints, along with other special characters, to come up with very secure but easy to remember passwords.

Love your idea of it as prayer!! (which, of course, it is)

And it sure beats the ubiquitous Password1 in more ways than one!

Dave

 

[Muzhik]

Great idea. I will keep this in mind the next time I need to come up with a password. I think given today’s attitude about Christianity a lot of folks would not be able to guess one like this. How about a favorite Bible Passage?

Years and years ago, I was giving some support to a worker at her cubicle. She had locked up her account (again) because she couldn’t ever remember her password, and of course we forbade the workers from writing them down. I was teaching the users to use a “passphrase” instead of a password, i.e., “MSDMGOTL” stands for the phrase “My Soul Doth Magnify the Glory Of The Lord”. I noticed that she had a Bible-Verse-a-Day calendar at her desk with her favorite verses pinned to her walls, so we hit upon the idea of taking the verse for that day, coming up with a password, then pinning that verse on the wall with the others. It was hidden in plain sight, since no one would know which verse she was using to generate her passwords, or what pattern she used that day. I never had to unlock her account again.

Having said that, I want to emphasize something: DO NOT USE “John316” OR ANY VARIATION OF THAT AS YOUR PASSWORD! IT IS ONE OF THE TOP 500 PASSWORDS USED, MEANING IT WILL TAKE LESS THAN A SECOND FOR YOUR PASSWORD TO BE CRACKED USING A BRUTE FORCE METHOD.

You also have to take your own corporate culture into account before trying something like this. My current employer has a “clean desk” policy and actively discourages people from pinning lots of stuff on their cubical wall. It’s also so PC and “globally conscious” that this year, on Oct. 31, we had “Scare Day”. I’m not sure how a bible calendar would go over.

 

[Muzhik]

Sorry to ask but I’m curious as to why you spell God as G_D. When you talk do you not pronounce the word God?

A few years back, I was exploring Christian Zionism and the Hebrew roots of Christianity. Among the Orthodox Jews it is a common practice to spell “God” with a dash or an underscore replacing the “o”. This is done to make sure that nothing can desecrate or diminish the Holy Name of the Most High. As an experiment, I started following that practice. As a touch typist, it forced me to stop and think about what I was typing. Now I do it automatically, still thinking about what it means as I type it.

Baruch HaShem Adonai! (Blessed be the Name of the Lord!)

 

[thistle]

A few years back, I was exploring Christian Zionism and the Hebrew roots of Christianity. Among the Orthodox Jews it is a common practice to spell “God” with a dash or an underscore replacing the “o”. This is done to make sure that nothing can desecrate or diminish the Holy Name of the Most High. As an experiment, I started following that practice. As a touch typist, it forced me to stop and think about what I was typing. Now I do it automatically, still thinking about what it means as I type it.

Baruch HaShem Adonai! (Blessed be the Name of the Lord!)

God is not his name. God is a word which we use as Catholics both in writing and when speaking. You should be following the Catholic faith and not Judaism.

 

[Muzhik]

God is not his name. God is a word which we use as Catholics both in writing and when speaking. You should be following the Catholic faith and not Judaism.

With all due respect to a forum elder, you haven’t heard the words coming out of my daughter’s mouths. They were raised as Unitarian (effectively atheist) by their mother, and I will be doing everything I can to show respect and reparation for His Holy Name, even if it’s not strictly Roman Catholic.

 

[thistle]

With all due respect to a forum elder, you haven’t heard the words coming out of my daughter’s mouths. They were raised as Unitarian (effectively atheist) by their mother, and I will be doing everything I can to show respect and reparation for His Holy Name, even if it’s not strictly Roman Catholic.

“God” is NOT his name. Its a word to describe who he is. There is absolutely nothing wrong or disrespectful by spelling GOD or saying the word GOD.

 

[Sirach2]

Thistle, there is nothing wrong with his views, but I do think you are being rigorous in not allowing him the freedom to practice his own spirituality. I’m sure God is not offended in the least. However, YOU are. Maybe a little more MYOB might be appropriate unless there is sin involved. Fraternal correction is not warranted at all, in this case.

 

[Muzhik]

There is absolutely nothing wrong or disrespectful by spelling GOD or saying the word GOD.

I did not say there is.

The subject of this thread is not just about using the name of a saint to generate a password. At a deeper level, it’s about slowing down our prayer lives. It may be possible to say a Rosary in 10 minutes, but I think it’s more respectful if you slow down and take 20 minutes.

Likewise, modern secure passwords need to be long (13 characters is a bare minimum, now, with 15 or 16 characters required for more secure systems) and made of a mixture of UPPERCASE, lower case, numbers (0 through 9), and punctuation. I know very few people who can type in a random mixture of these characters without slowing down. If I create a password out of a Pope’s name, for example “Eleutherius13,Pope”, I’m going to have to slow down to make sure I’m entering it in correctly. While I’m entering his name, I can do so respectfully (strike that – I **HAVE **to do it slowly and respectfully so I don’t fumble-finger the password) I can meditate upon his life, how he is the 13th pope from the time of Peter, etc.

In the case of “G_D”, while it has become more automatic over the years, it is still not something easily done. I dare you to compare typing “God” alternating with “G_D” (without the quotes) 15 times. I think you’ll find that on a US-layout keyboard you have to slow down and twist your fingers to type G_D. In doing so, in slowing down and putting effort into typing this word, I find myself making this action itself into a prayer to the Almighty One.

Of course, that’s just me…