Any tips for a prayer rule while I can’t attend Mass?

[kikiki32]

Hi. Things in my city are becoming ugly again regarding coronavirus. Authorities have reduced attendance to religious events to a maximum of 10 or 15 people (depending on the size of the temple) and the local Bishop has encouraged people to follow streamed Mass starting from this Sunday. I also live with a very vulnerable immune depressed relative who has just started a strong medical treatment that increases weakness, which means I should take up the same preventive measures as my relative. Not doing so could have bad consequences.

All of this means I won’t be able to attend Mass until February/March. I will follow it on stream, but it’s not the same and I believe it doesn’t give one the same graces as being present there (correct me if I’m wrong).

What can you suggest me to “spiritually compensate” my lack of Mass? I’m trying to build some prayer life, but it’s still too erratic. I’d like to come out of this situation with some kind of particular “prayer rule”.

Any tip/suggestion is welcome. Thank you.

 

[RoseScented]

My first thought would be to see if you can incorporate at least Morning, Evening, and Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours into your daily prayer life. The Liturgy of the Hours is part of the public worship of the Church just like the mass is. You could go “all in” and do all the Hours during the day, but if you’ve never done it before or have a busy schedule it can be a lot to do all at once. Start with doing a couple Hours and see if it is something that is beneficial to you.

Then, if you are able, you could do the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3PM as other do.

If not, then saying the Rosary or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at any time of the day is just fine if either one of those appeals to you.

You can see if any novenas cover a prayer intention that you feel called to focus on.

You can pray and meditate with scripture in your own fashion or do Lectio Divina. There’s a bunch of resources online for how to do that.

I list all of this not to say to “do all of this every day” but just to give you ideas for things to try. Not everyone is going to find every prayer form enriching to them. One thing I did find out early on when I was developing my own prayer life was, for me at least, that I couldn’t just go gung-ho and do everything at once. I burned out really fast doing that and it took a while to recover. Instead, I had to add one thing to my prayer life and really get used to that being a part of my day before I tried to add something else. So just be patient with yourself.

I personally would recommend you start with Morning and Evening prayer since it’s also part of the public liturgy of the Church and you said you’d be missing mass, so there would at least be some form of liturgy in your life still. If you’re like me when starting Morning and Evening prayer you’re going to spend a couple weeks going “What’s going on? What am I doing? Am I doing these saints days right?” (I was using the books and flipping pages, apps will handle all of that for you.) Push through that and see if it eventually evens out for you and you feel like the prayers are your own.

 

[Limoncello4021]

I find it a very good practice to give the first hour of your day to God. Morning prayer from the LOTH and the Rosary during this time, as well as other prayer and meditation. Then stream Mass and do so with full participation and reverence, making a Spiritual Communion. At 3 p.m. pray the Divine Mercy chaplet, and before bed the examination of conscience and Act of Contrition. These, for me, are basic necessities every day, and you can fill in other times with Bible reading, spiritual reading, etc. It really depends on what your other duties are during the day.
God understands, of course, if it is impossible to get to Mass and He will give you the graces you need to get to heaven.

 

[kikiki32]

Thank you very much!

@RoseScented The very few times I’ve tried to pray some Hours I’ve been lost as you describe (except for that I don’t own the books and searched for them digitally). I’m still somehow attracted by the idea of praying with the Psalms, and during the course of the day. So I’ll try it again. Thank you!

@Limoncello4021 Thank you for your suggestions, and for that last comforting sentence!

 

[OddBird]

My first thought would be to see if you can incorporate at least Morning, Evening, and Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours into your daily prayer life.

That’s what I was going to suggest too.

If you’re confused as to how to proceed at first, there are certainly places on the net where you can find the Hours live-streamed too (or maybe EWTN has them?). It could help to see how it is done first.

During our lockdowns here, I follow Vespers along with the French Catholic TV channel, because it gives me a much-needed feeling of community.

 

[Kei]

Well, it’s not like we CAN compensate, but in addition to watching the Mass I try to pray the LotH (you can go to universalis.com and follow along!), which has already been suggested. Ultimately, try to make it a day of prayer and rest regardless of what prayers you make, the rosary, mental prayer, meditations, spiritual readings, etc.

 

[kikiki32]

Thank you @OddBird and @Kei! I’ll definitely try to incorporate some of the LOTH hours, little by little.