The twelve year prayer

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So there is a prayer called the twelve year prayer. You basically have to pray it everyday for twelve years. If you miss a day with a good excuse than you can make up the prayer later. But how do you make it up? I’m really just curious cause I was thinking would you pray it twice in one day or just add a day to the twelve years? Would either be okay? Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut!
 
I’m not familiar with such a thing. Do you have a link to it?

-Fr ACEGC
 
Wow! That’s totally interesting…

I LOVE long prayers… I love short prayers too - like some of the quick prayers in Saint Therese of Lisieux’s very spontaneous “little way”, but long prayers are awesome…

I will learn more about St Brigid, but I have said many lengthy prayers, and the best way I have found to make the most of the prayer is by journaling…

What you’re describing, however, is a bit more complex than keeping a mere diary… By “missing a day” and making up for it - your introducing numbers into the issue… I dont know if Jesus was so big on accounting, and the spirituality of “Catholic math” can sometimes be a bit weird, if not totally superstitious at times… But - in any case - I’m accountant, and I’ve gone over this problem on both minute and macroscopic levels… so I’ll explain how to keep a numeric prayer journal…

Positive examples of “numeric prayer journals” might be St Maxmillian Kolbe, as he (like so many Priests) kept a “mass ledger”; Friar Luca Pacioli was a Franciscan who developed the fundamental treatise on double entry book keeping and accounting - he has great ideas on the matter…

But for you, I’d recommend, Saint Faustina, who (under the guidance of Fr Sopocko,SJ) kept a daily record of “prayerful defeats and victories”… And, since Fr Sopocko was an Ignatian, there’s little doubt Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s Prayer of Examen had an influence on the development of that chart (in Ntbk #1,Paragraphs 161-170)

https://diaryofstfaustina.wordpress.com/2017/06/07/diary-of-sr-faustina-1st-notebook-par-161-170/

Your prayer is far longer than what’s contained in that chart, but - if you wanted to be so accurate as to account for a full twelve year prayer - it would help to know Saint Ignatius’ Examen Prayer actually would consist of Major and Minor Examens… Your daily transactions, interactions, and spiritual activities get noted as a minor examen, and then at night you do your Major Examen…

From an accounting standpoint, I do this at work… when I complete a task at work, I make note of it, which is like doing a short, minor examen… at the end of the day, when I sum up all my work, I am doing a Major Examen… BUT - actually - one day is not really that major… accounting is a cyclical process, so we are constantly reviewing our work, summing up our activities, and periodically “closing the books” from smaller, minor, more subsidiary ledgers to larger, more general ledgers… and these larger ledgers we then compare from period to period over the life of a venture (for tax purposes,financial statements, income and cashflow verification, etc)…

(Cont’d below…)
 
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What does all this mean to you spiritually? Well, if you want your spirituality to grow over as much as 12 years - keep a record of the days you miss… slash marks are fine… if a simple prisoner in a cell can do it on a prison wall, then you can do it in the privacy of your cloister… either way, you’re working out your redemption, so you should be fine…

The hard part, I think, is to update the journal of pluses and minuses regularly… Do it as you see fit… If you miss a day - make a slash in your journal… keep a summary page from for the number of misses in a month… and, then, at the end of the year - a summary of misses for the year… do it for each of the twelve years… and, then, add it all up, and add it to your time in order to make it up…

But - I think - you should bear in mind a few things…

If God really took stringent account of our sins and failings, who would succeed? Prayers are here to help, so remember God is always merciful an forgiving… Dont let your shortcomings undermine the infinite mercy of Christ’s redeeming grace… Chances are - missing a day of the devotion does not make you culpable for sin… You should confirm it with a Spiritual Director to be sure… And, if missing a day were a sin, you might also ask if confession fully atones for it… or simply ask what to do to atone for it…

I personally dont think God is a scorekeeper… Jesus didnt come to judge us, but to redeem us and forgive us… The only unforgivable sin is one against mercy itself… when Jesus said to forgive yourself not 7 times but 70 time 7 times - he was probably speaking figuratively… the idea isnt so much to sacrifice much, but to love much…

But one other thing to remember about a sacrifice compared to a modern accounting principal… sacrifices are expenses that cost us, but not all costs are immediate expenses… liabilities are not expenses we immediately incur, but they appear a little like income at first because they help us get what we want - but usually loans/liabilities monies we have to repay are closer to our sins because they cost us more in the long run… We see the allure of some immediate thing we want, and we borrow to get it, so we increase our expenses (after interest) in the long run - especially since the underlying asset (often) depreciates to nothing when we dont want it anymore… The expense of a sacrifice is good, if it comes from what we have - and, if you give your all, then that widows mite is perfect… So you dont always need fear expenses in your daily activities - especially since expenses always precede income anyway - but avoid liabilities… even Luca Pacioli advised against it in his ethics… Thank God nothing in the earthly life is worth our eternity, which is probably why God sent Jesus to redeem us in grace…

I dont know if this has helped you personally, but I thank you for bringing up the question… It’s been a wonderful contemplation…

Bless you!
🙂

Wm
 
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Thankfully, I haven’t missed a day yet. I was just curious about it since I didn’t know the proper way to “make up” a prayer.
 
Wm777 said:
Chances are - missing a day of the devotion does not make you culpable for sin… You should confirm it with a Spiritual Director to be sure… And, if missing a day were a sin, you might also ask if confession fully atones for it… or simply ask what to do to atone for it…
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I don’t think it would be a sin at all as the person has not made a solemn vow. But it would be a concern to the person missing a day from a long-term daily devotion.
 
I was doing fine with that prayer from Nov 2017 till Oct 16 of this year, when I got disrupted by strenuous travel and now have many makeups to complete.

I just say the prayer extra times in one day until I am eventually caught up.
 
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How long have you been praying this daily? And do you know if it’s ok to break up into 7 smaller parts to say throughout the day
 
I prayed it for almost a year. Yes you can break it up, but once you memorize the prayer it only takes about 15 minutes tops to recite all of it including the Our Fathers and Hail Marys, so there isn’t much point to breaking up such a short prayer.
It’s easy to memorize because it’s very formulaic.
P.s. happy birthday!
 
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Yeah, I’ve heard you can “make up” for it the next day if you missed it for a good reason. Also take the promises with a grain of salt; as Fr. already said, they don’t enjoy ecclesiastical approval.
 
As the prayer “promises” do not enjoy ecclesiastical approval, why not learn to say part of the Liturgy of the Hours, which is actually the Church’s second official liturgy?
 
Happy you brought the topic up. Sorry for rambling, LOL, but getting lost in prayerful contemplations and reveries (especially for a long time) is soooo rewarding!

I wish you the best in your journey!!!

🙂

Wm
 
If you’ve actually read the St. Bridget Prayers, both the 12-year and the 1-year versions, they are extremely powerful meditations on Christ’s passion. I have found they gave me a lot of insights and they are really like a little Stations of the Cross. I recently read an article about a man who said that saying the 1-year prayers as a teenager for the full year helped him to discern becoming a priest. (I also like St. Bridget because she traveled a lot, like me, and she was widowed, like me, and I was fortunate to see the crucifix she claimed was the source of the prayers, so I have a little personal connection and can picture it when I pray.)

There is a good discipline in saying a prayer, any prayer whether it’s Rosary, St Bridget Prayers, or LOTH on a daily basis. I personally haven’t gotten into the LOTH because it’s more complicated, needs to be read from a book or app (you can’t just memorize it) and is not a form of prayer I grew up with, unlike for example the Rosary or novenas. I think the important thing is just that you’re praying every day, not which prayer you pick.
 
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I just used a piece of notebook paper writing down in pen the diff prayers, then skip a line or 2 and for each prayer make tiny not the month in pen circle it, then in pencil write the date per day for each prayer… I was doing the 12 yr prayer and the 1 yr one (along with several others) but have missed quite a bit this year… 😦
 
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