The Seven Daily Habits of Holy Apostolic People

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by Fr John McCloskey

I want to stress several points before examining the habits.

One, remember that growing in these daily habits, just like taking on a diet or a physical exercise program, is a gradual work in progress. Don’t expect to insert all seven or even two or three of these in your daily schedule immediately, any more than you would attempt a 5K race after not having run regularly, or attempting to play Liszt after your third piano lesson. This haste would be inviting failure and God wants you to succeed at both your pace and His. You should work closely with your spiritual advisor, and gradually and fruitfully incorporate the habits into your life over a period of time in a way that fits your particular situation. It may even be that your life circumstances require a modification of the seven habits.
 
I note the first habit, get on your knees and pray the morning offering, begins with getting out of bed at a set time each morning and refusing to give in to laziness. I think I see where my problem is going to be.
 
puzzleannie said:
I note the first habit, get on your knees and pray the morning offering, begins with getting out of bed at a set time each morning and refusing to give in to laziness. I think I see where my problem is going to be.
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Me, too. 😛
 
Wow. This is the third “thing” that has caught my eye in the last three days about having good spiritual habits.

I better get more serious about this.

I have a lot of trouble mortifying myself. Everyone, quick! say a little prayer for poor undisciplined Leonie. :gopray2:
 
puzzleannie said:
I note the first habit, get on your knees and pray the morning offering, begins with getting out of bed at a set time each morning and refusing to give in to laziness. I think I see where my problem is going to be.
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:rotfl: And my problem too! I think that there are plenty of holy people around who don’t leap out of bed and get straight on their knees and make a morning offering as well as the rest of the recommendations in this link!

I think realistically it is nothing like that because firstly everyone has a different personality and everyone is to be holy within their unique personality God gifted to them, secondly not everyone has the health to do so much leaping; getting out of bed can be for some a very slow process and can be painful; that in itself is a prayer, thirdly a recollected heart wakes up however slowly or quickly they wake and naturally their first thought is Jesus, fourthly a laypersons life tends to get in the way of daily structured prayer and so for laypersons all of their life must become prayer; folks have to work and have families to tend to so prayer must not take precidence over taking care of the business Jesus has gifted that people take care of, but this business must become holy business and a prayer before Jesus!

I believe a soul can say a million Hail Marys or Our Father’s and not grow as quickly in holiness as they would if at every breathe, action and word of their life they remained recollected to Jesus. This constant prayer is living the Gospel and life becomes prayer. I believe that is vital that a time is set aside for vocal prayer, meditation/mental prayer and communal prayer; Holy Mass, but the danger is that people find life is not smooth and things happen and they can soon drift from such a stict regime of prayer and find it impossible and can give up on prayer. This is not a road to go down.

We must develop a ‘mind’, a ‘heart’ and a ‘spirit’ of prayer. Jesus desires all of our being at all times at every breathe of our life because He is with us at all times and we are living and moving and having our being in Him at all times.

I do not practise prayer like the OP has outlined. I get up as I do depending on the demands of the day ahead which influences whether I take more or less rest in my bed and I believe that Jesus does desire we rest or we will burn out and be no good to Him nor anyone else.

I sit up in bed and first of all I attend to loving and thanking Jesus because this takes precedence over my poor offerings. Then I make my daily offering of embracing my cross and dying to my ‘self’ to Jesus. Then I go about the slow process of getting out of bed. It takes awhile!😃 Then I go down the day with my Guardian Angel and with Jesus being with Jesus at all times and He goes with me everywhere though He never left me in my sleep. All of the day is prayer. If I can make Mass I do and if I can’t I unite myself spiritually to Jesus upon the Altar offering myself to the Father. I may say a prayer here and there throughout the day mentally for this person or that person or this situation or that situation, it depends what God gifts me with within the day to pray for. Everything is influenced by how God may approach me within the day, what I am given to contemplate and how He moves my heart. I try to have my heart turned to and loving Jesus constantly troughout the day in all things I do and say making a constant and unceasing prayer. I always set time aside say no less than 20 minutes to be silent and alone with God within the day.

Then I get into bed, might watch TV, might read a fiction book and then I read Sacred Scripture, make an Act of Contrition, say my Office, sometimes read a spiritual book, talk to my Guardian Angel, my Blessed Virgin Mother Mary, St Therese, St Padre Pio and a few other holy and Saintly friends 🙂 and then I love, praise and thank Jesus in my heart without words and go to sleep. Most of all I listen in prayer. All of the day has been a prayer and life becomes a Living Prayer. The end!😃

** ‘Pray unceasingly’**

This way of prayer certainly is not lazy. In Living Prayer nothing is kept for the self but everything is given back to God in prayer.

I know it seems too simple, but it is simply a beautiful way to live constantly with Jesus. God has changed my life and changed me in this Living Prayer 🙂

In the Living Prayer of my life.
 
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