devotions

[billcu1]

I am getting back into going to Mass. The blistering heat of summer and really cold winter isn’t here. I want to do devotions. That’s the way my confessor told me to increase my faith. Well I get on the www.usccb.org site and say the gospel reading every day. Is this a good devotion. Then there can be the liturgy of the hours. But it kind of confuses me. I have never watched it done. And reading it. Well IDK if I’m doing it right. I nothing else I can turn back to the rosary once a day. And then maybe something else. But I have to get that body and blood at least once a week. That gives us our life.

Bill

So is the day’s gospel reading pretty effective for anybody?

 

[peter26]

I don’t see how you could go wrong with reading each day’s Gospel reading (or all the Bible readings for the day if you want). Its good advice, but don’t feel that this is the only private devotion you can do or necessarily the best for you - there is nothing wrong with reading any part of the Bible you wish to read, or focusing more on other spiritual reading, on vocal prayers, on meditative prayer. There is not really a bad way to pray as long as it works for you. Try out some different things.

 

[camkutz]

With regards to the Divine Office, maybe speak to your priest and ask you to show the basics I would say.
And yes, the daily Gospel reading is a fantastic way to grow closer to our Lord and I would say backing this devotion would be beneficial because you’re meditating on the Lord’s life which you would read in the Gospels and if you do a google search of the many benefits and graces you receive praying the rosary daily, why wouldn’t you???

 

[Anne1964]

If you are near an Adoration Chapel you could go there and pray and do the Gospel readings there. If there is no Adoration Chapel near you, just go to any Catholic Church and pray before the Blessed Sacrament present in the tabernacle.

Another way to pray with the Gospel reading is to put yourself in the scene the Gospel passage is describing. You could imagine yourself as one of the people in the scene or as an observer. Look around, take note of what you see. How would you have reacted if you had been there? The insights that come from this type of meditation can be truly amazing.

 

[RosyAnne]

I recommend nurturing a devotion to the Liturgy of the Hours, it’s the prayer of the Church. I try to pray the Morning and Evening prayers myself. I feel that the laity haven’t been urged strongly enough to pray them, yet Vatican II plainly said the Liturgy of the Hours was more recommended than the Rosary itself. Can you imagine that? How many Catholics know this? I just wish I could put my fingers on the document that said this, I read it recently.

Here’s an online guide that can help you figure out what’s what: universalis.com/, you’ll find the prayers for the day in the sidebar on the left. If you can get your own set of books, that would be ideal. You can buy an Ordo or a Guide that will help you with finding the right prayers for the day.

Here is one article to read: 5 Reasons to Pray the Divine Office Daily

I also am devoted to the Rosary, the Angelus (morning, noon and night) and the Divine Mercy Chaplet and daily Mass. These things take time to develop though, please start slow and once you find you are faithful to one devotion, then try adding another, and then another and so on. If you start with too much, you’ll burn out and things will go Kablooey. If you do fail (I do), start over fresh the next day and try again. Never give up.

I found setting up a shrine in my home was helpful for my prayer life (with lots of icons and statues), as well as lighting vigil oil lamps, blessed candles and have recently incorporated burning incense (from an Orthodox supplier). Find what things appeal to you, that help nourish your prayer life and prepare a sacred space of prayer for yourself.

One thing I need to do is the recommended 30 minutes a day of Scripture reading (it’s also a partial indulgence). This is the Word of God, which means you are making contact with God. Think about that. How can that not make you grow leaps and bounds spiritually, how could your wounds not be healed and your hardened heart not be softened?

1. The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body. She has always maintained them, and continues to do so, together with sacred tradition, as the supreme rule of faith, since, as inspired by God and committed once and for all to writing, they impart the word of God Himself without change, and make the voice of the Holy Spirit resound in the words of the prophets and Apostles. Therefore, like the Christian religion itself, all the preaching of the Church must be nourished and regulated by Sacred Scripture. For in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them; and the force and power in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons, the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life. Consequently these words are perfectly applicable to Sacred Scripture: “For the word of God is living and active” (Heb. 4:12) and “it has power to build you up and give you your heritage among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32; see 1 Thess. 2:13).

Source: DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION
ON DIVINE REVELATION - DEI VERBUM

 

[billcu1]

If you are near an Adoration Chapel you could go there and pray and do the Gospel readings there. If there is no Adoration Chapel near you, just go to any Catholic Church and pray before the Blessed Sacrament present in the tabernacle.

Another way to pray with the Gospel reading is to put yourself in the scene the Gospel passage is describing. You could imagine yourself as one of the people in the scene or as an observer. Look around, take note of what you see. How would you have reacted if you had been there? The insights that come from this type of meditation can be truly amazing.

When you say the blessed sacrament and the tabernacle. Do you mean during adoration? The monstrance is not to be out with less than two people or by itself alone. I have read. I don’t know of any adoration chapels I haven’t heard of this. So no I’d say there aren’t any here. I need to be at an adoration because I wish to seek a plenary indulgence. And that has to be since I’ve already had confession; within 20 days.

 

[billcu1]

I recommend nurturing a devotion to the Liturgy of the Hours, it’s the prayer of the Church. I try to pray the Morning and Evening prayers myself. I feel that the laity haven’t been urged strongly enough to pray them, yet Vatican II plainly said the Liturgy of the Hours was more recommended than the Rosary itself. Can you imagine that? How many Catholics know this? I just wish I could put my fingers on the document that said this, I read it recently.

Here’s an online guide that can help you figure out what’s what: universalis.com/, you’ll find the prayers for the day in the sidebar on the left. If you can get your own set of books, that would be ideal. You can buy an Ordo or a Guide that will help you with finding the right prayers for the day.

Here is one article to read: 5 Reasons to Pray the Divine Office Daily

I also am devoted to the Rosary, the Angelus (morning, noon and night) and the Divine Mercy Chaplet and daily Mass. These things take time to develop though, please start slow and once you find you are faithful to one devotion, then try adding another, and then another and so on. If you start with too much, you’ll burn out and things will go Kablooey. If you do fail (I do), start over fresh the next day and try again. Never give up.

I found setting up a shrine in my home was helpful for my prayer life (with lots of icons and statues), as well as lighting vigil oil lamps, blessed candles and have recently incorporated burning incense (from an Orthodox supplier). Find what things appeal to you, that help nourish your prayer life and prepare a sacred space of prayer for yourself.

One thing I need to do is the recommended 30 minutes a day of Scripture reading (it’s also a partial indulgence). This is the Word of God, which means you are making contact with God. Think about that. How can that not make you grow leaps and bounds spiritually, how could your wounds not be healed and your hardened heart not be softened?

Source: DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION
ON DIVINE REVELATION - DEI VERBUM

I have prayed the rosary before and very much like it. I have also considered Faustina’s devotion the divine mercy. Ther eis one called “Mary untier of knots” that sounds very good. I AM going to be saying the gospel reading everyday. I would think the top “prayer” of the church would be the Mass. Nothing substitutes that IMO.