Devotions

[gmoberg1]

Hi All,

Want peoples imput about your spiritual jouneys. I’m in the RCIA program and will be going through the Rite of Election this weekend. Since making the decision to become in full communion with the church, I tried various forms of devotions and prayer. I tried the rosary, the Liturgy of the Hours, and novenas. I found that I like the rosary the best because I don’t have think through it or pray it at any specific time. I love how it consecrates the days of the week with the mysteries of the day. My question is, what are your favorite personal devotions, and why? BTW, I have my own home alter set up in the spare bedroom made from a barstool with a cloth cover linen, a pedastal crucifix, candles and an incense burner where I do my rosary every morning.

Thanks

 

[Planty_Pall]

Hi gmoberg.

It sounds like you are doing very well. I have to a serious degree neglected prayer for virtually my entire life. Thankfully, I am not dead yet, and that means hope!

Given my present state in life, I am convinced that God is pleased with some vocal prayers of less than ten minutes in the morning, about 45 minutes of spiritual reading in the afternoon (that hopefully leads to some mental prayer), followed by a five decade Rosary, sometimes with family members, and some vocal prayers of less than ten minutes that includes an examination of conscience in the evening. I have actually done pretty well for the first two days of Lent! But I can be a real whiz kid when it comes to thinking up alibis for why I should be excused even from what little God asks of me.

If it seemed reasonable, I could be enthused about doing more, but at this point, I am trying to be more attentive and please God more with quality than quantity if it is proper to explain it that way. Without God’s help, I know I cannot do it. With God’s help…what is not possible in the spiritual life?

So I came across this today in my reading. Maybe some will find in it an encouragement to never doubt as I sometimes have that God is ever ready to forgive our sins and give us all the grace we need:

It is as fitting for God to be merciful as it is for the sun to shine or the fire to burn. Nor does He become angry, as some men do when we ask them for help or favors. Men become upset at being asked for things because they realize that in giving to others, they lose something. But God loses nothing when He bestows favor or grants our requests, but He is glorified in so doing.

—Venerable Louis of Granada, O.P., Summa of the Christian Life. vol. 2, 307, TAN Publishers

Ven. Louis was a favorite writer of St. Francis de Sales

 

[corsair]

Well, I get a little carried away with prayer, but I can do that as I am retired. I do the Little Office of the BVM, Prayers to the Holy Souls, Consecration to the Angels, Litany of the Most Precious Blood, many Rosaries, and several Novenas according to the season. Adoration, Holy Hour of Reparation, and of course, Mass.

Then, in my spare time I work with our Latin Mass Society to promote the Traditional Mass locally.

 

[GloriousOrder]

As an atheist all my 20 short years of life (and a very cynical one at that), I found faith to be a very ridiculous thing. Being only 22 now, it has been a very fast and furious change over the last two years. For the first year and a half or so, I believed God must exist but did not actually pray to Him. It still seemed so silly to get on my knees or even clasp my hands while laying in bed, and talk to our Lord. Today, I can say that it is the easiest thing in the world to approach Him on bended knee or bowed head, even if I feel totally unworthy to even try to talk to His Divine Majesty.

My first devotion was saying the Gloria in excelsis Deo every single day in prayer. I had no idea about the laws of the Church: when to say the Gloria in Mass, and when not to, but that didn’t matter. The way the prayer itself glorifies God and speaks of His being the “rex caelestis”, or King of Heaven, really struck me deep down. The words “Jesus Christ, with the Holy Ghost, in the glory of God the Father” pierced my heart and broke the spine of my apathy. All I could see when praying that one prayer, every day, was the swirling multitudes of angelic hosts, the saints, and holy people through all the ages advancing up through the ethereal gates of eternity toward God in His glory.

Never forget all our brothers and sisters who have already gotten to the finish line, and are now cheering us on as it were.

 

[FaustinaClare]

I do the liturgy of the hours and mental prayer. I’ve been trying so hard to be more regular with the Divine Mercy Chapelt, the Rosary, and the Chaplet of Seven Sorrows (aka the Seven Sorrows Rosary).

It is SOOO hard for me to do the rosary on a regular basis. For some reason I can’t stay focused enough to feel like it is doing any good. Half the time I fall asleep even if I’m sitting up. I don’t know why I have such a hard time. I’ve even asked for help from the saints and Mary to get through it but I can’t. I feel so horrible b/c there are so many good things to gain from saying the rosary every day!

If you can say the rosary every day then you are doing great. As they say “A Rosary A Day Keeps Satan Away”

 

[gmoberg1]

Wow

Thanks for all your replies, and I want to try that Thanksgiving Chaplet. I really feel that I truly am on the right track in my conversion to the faith, after seeing all the opportunities for various forms of prayer and experiencing many of them, the expereiences I had in other faith traditions was lacking. I cannot wait to take my first Eucharist as a Catholic this Easter, as I fully understand that Mass is truly Heaven on Earth. My wife is being baptized that evening as well. What a journey!

Thanks’
Guss

 

[jtodisco]

My favorite devotions are the rosary and the divine mercy chaplet. I try to pray the rosary every day and the divine mercy chaplet at least once or twice a week. They’re both beautiful practices and easy to make time for. I also like the Jesus Prayer and I used to own a chotki, though unfortunately it fell apart. Like the rosary and the divine mercy chaplet the Jesus Prayer doesn’t take a lot of time and can be said any time. I find it to be a nice prayer to say in order to take a step back for a moment and reconnect with God while going about my day.

 

[Marie5890]

Because the angels have had been a major part of the history of salvation, including but not limited to the Annunciation, the informing of St Joseph of the Divine nature of the Child Mary had conceived as well as the need to flee into Egypt, the Nativity, the Agony in the Garden, the announcement of Christ Risen at the tomb, the Ascention, the announcement to Zachariaus of the impending birth of John the Baptist, their ministering to Our Lord while He was fasting in the desert for 40 days (Hello Lenten journey!) etc etc etc

I have a devotion to the Chaplet of St Michael.

We tend not to think of the angels that much, but they have played and continue to be very much apart of the Kingdom of God.

I also have a very strong devotion to the Rosary, and (though not as strong as the Rosary) a devotion to the Divine Mercy chaplet.

For me, thinking on and considering the various Saints in the Communion of Saints is important to me (I love the Litany of the Saints; I think it’s very powerful to pray that and ask for their intercession)

 

[pablope]

Wow

Thanks for all your replies, and I want to try that Thanksgiving Chaplet. I really feel that I truly am on the right track in my conversion to the faith, after seeing all the opportunities for various forms of prayer and experiencing many of them, the expereiences I had in other faith traditions was lacking. I cannot wait to take my first Eucharist as a Catholic this Easter, as I fully understand that Mass is truly Heaven on Earth. My wife is being baptized that evening as well. What a journey!

Thanks’
Guss

You could try the Chaplet of the Holy Wounds, very similar to the Divine Mercy. I always do these together, one after the other.

 

[Crumpy]

I read various Jewish commentaries and there are some very interesting things to learn about prayer.

Judaism considers prayer to be the absolute pinacle of human activity. to be in communication with God. God is conceived as being distant and aloof, because of His holiness and majesty, and, at the same time, always so near as to be withing range of the quietist voice that we may use for expressing our prayer.

The Jews rationalized that when the Temple was destroyed, prayer was the equivalent or better than the animal sacrifices that were offered there.

The first three phrases of the LORD’s prayer express our worship, awe, and love for the Father. Then, the remaining phrases boldly tell God " give …forgive…lead us…deliver us" so that we should pray with the confidence that the words evoke.

Generally, with one close exception (which I can’t remember) sacrificial actions in the Temple were done without prescribed prayers. Even Jesus does a miracle at one time or another without a prayer. The issue is for various actions in the Bible to be stripped of any suggestion that they were a result of magic, using an incantation to entice a god to do a favor, the words, as it were, gaining control over the god for a moment to accomplish something.

In Jesus of Nazareth His Holiness Benedict xvi reminds us that we have both a right and a duty to pray for our needs.

Rabbi Abraham Twersky book Twersky On Spirituality highlights that a level of spiritual maturity to which we should aspire would suggest that we pray every time we hear an emergency siren, to pray for the safety and efficienty of the emergency crew and to pray for any victims that may need our prayers for their safety or health.

The epistle of James recommends us to pray for wisdom (to know how to do God’s will and live life according to His commandments) which God lavishly gives to those who ask.

Paul tells us to pray continually.

One of our prayers at Mass is “LORD it is right always and everywhere to give you thanks and praise, through Jesus Christ.”

Be thankful for everything.