Traditional morning prayers?

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Stavros

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Our priests at my parish (FSSP) say that the minimum prayers a person should be praying every day is 3 Aves morning and night for the grace to live their vocation, a morning offering, morning and evening prayers, Mental Prayer for 15-30 minutes a day, and a daily Rosary.

I’m a convert, so I don’t know what traditionally constitutes “Morning Prayers” and “Evening Prayers”. I looked in my Baltimore Catechism #2, and it just says to pray morning and evening, but it doesn’t say what prayers to pray, or if it should be verbal prayers (Ave/Pater Noster, etc) or personal prayers. I find that if I pray my 3 Aves, a morning offering, and the Morning Prayers from my 1962 missal, I’m pushing close to 30 minutes without a single original word of thanksgiving or petition. I go to the 6:30a daily mass, so I find to be able to say morning prayers, eat a light breakfast and still make my hour fasting window, take a shower, gather my things for my work day, and drive to mass, I have to be up by 4:45a (!!). And again, that’s without any time for personal prayers, just what is prescribed in the missal.

I know God isn’t a scorekeeper per se, and I tend to lean towards being overly scrupulous when it comes to my prayer life. After daily mass, I usually spend 45 minutes to an hour praying the Rosary, praying mental prayer, journaling, or reading. It’s just an informal Holy Hour depending on my mood for the day. The important thing for me is the time spent keeping Him company in the blessed sacrament, and being committed to spending that time as often as I can.

So here are my questions:
  1. If you were raised Catholic, what were you always taught should be your Morning Prayers?
  2. How much time do you spend in them on average?
  3. If you go to Daily Mass in the early morning, do you combine your morning prayers with your mass (either before or after)? If you go to Daily Mass in the evening, do you combine your evening prayers with your mass (either before or after)?
 
I used to pray all of the morning and evening prayers in my missal and prayer book. After I realized that my evening prayer was over an hour (including the rosary) I decided that I get far more out of original prayer.

Now in the mornings I pray The Liturgy of the Hours, the morning offering, a prayer of the saint of whose feast it is, followed by original prayers of praise, contrition, and intention.

In the evening I pray the rosary, the Liturgy of the Hours, followed by original prayer, and meditation to listen to what God has to say to me.

I do mix in written prayers and devotions for certain needs, but about half of my prayer time is spend in meditation and original prayer.
 
With the three Aves, the act of contrition, and the morning offering:
My God, I offer Thee all my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for the intentions for which He pleads and offers Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in thanksgiving for Thy favors, in reparation for my sins, and in humble supplication for my temporal and eternal welfare, for the needs of our holy Mother the Church, for the conversion of sinners, and for the relief of the poor souls in purgatory.

I’d usually pray a bit more–act of charity, prayer to patron st & guardian angel, prayer to OL of the Rosary, plus Pius XII’s prayer to St. Joseph the workman as I begin my daily work. Or, if you’re trying to pray 15 decades of the Rosary daily, 5 would be in the morning. I don’t have daily Mass in my schedule (usually just Sunday, Thursday, and Friday), so my morning routine is different from yours. And now I pray the Little Office instead of some of the above.

I find I need to prepare my meditation the night before, to make sure I do that when I get up. Spiritual reading, holy hour, etc also need to have planned time slots. Not to disregard spontaneous personal prayer, but with teaching, research, and other work, it’s easy to let “the one thing necessary” slip by. Mea culpa.
 
In addition to the traditional morning offering, I also pray the Memorare each morning, as well as the prayer to St. Michael and my guardian angel, asking for protection throughout the day. I usually pray my Rosary in the morning too – the one good thing about a 30 minute commute to work is that it gives me time to “crack the beads.”

I have found that the evening is not the best time for me to prayer (I usually get tired quickly and can’t concentrate as well), so I usually say an Our Father, Hail Mary, and a short litany of my patron saints before going to bed.

I would add that, while routine is very good, you will have to find what works best for you, both in terms of the kinds of prayers, and when you pray throughout the day. This isn’t an excuse to pray less often or neglect formal prayer, but just a suggestion to try to form your own prayer schedule.
 
I pray the morning and evening prayers in the prayer book Blessed Be God.
 
KarrollKid04 said:
In addition to the traditional morning offering, I also pray the Memorare each morning, as well as the prayer to St. Michael and my guardian angel, asking for protection throughout the day. I usually pray my Rosary in the morning too – the one good thing about a 30 minute commute to work is that it gives me time to “crack the beads.”

I have found that the evening is not the best time for me to prayer (I usually get tired quickly and can’t concentrate as well), so I usually say an Our Father, Hail Mary, and a short litany of my patron saints before going to bed.

I would add that, while routine is very good, you will have to find what works best for you, both in terms of the kinds of prayers, and when you pray throughout the day. This isn’t an excuse to pray less often or neglect formal prayer, but just a suggestion to try to form your own prayer schedule.
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On Thursdays, when they only have a mass in the evening, I pray the rosary in my car on the way to work - blessed be God for a 30 minute commute!

I also don’t do a whole lot of praying at night - I’d rather spend some time with spiritual reading. It helps me wind down after a long day.

I’ve been wanting to get in the habit of reading the Divine Office, as I find it to be a beautiful set of prayers, but Matins/Lauds together takes close to 30 minutes. I may just start doing Lauds, which is the equivalent of the LOTH morning prayers if I remember correctly, during my daily Holy Hour and then Vespers, or Evening Prayers. Since I go to daily mass at a traditional parish, I think I’ll get more out of the liturgical flow of my spiritual life if I stick with the 1962 rubrics of the Divine Office rather than try to mix and match with the LOTH.

Too many choices! This is the kind of thing that gets me stuck in the spiritual mud.
 
I was given a set of personal morning prayers when I converted a few years ago and I try to stick to these. Also, after quite a while I finally memorised them so I do sometimes say them in the car going to work, but mostly try to say them on the knees as soon as I get up. They are:

The Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be…, the Apostles Creed, then some prayers which I don’t know the name of, but they go;

*Oh my God, I believe in thee, do Thou strenghten my faith, all my hopes are in Thee, do Thou secure them, I love Thee with my whole heart, teach me to love Thee daily more and more, I’m sorry that I have offended Thee, do Thou increase my sorrow.

Oh God, how good Thou has been to me and how little I have done for Thee. Thou has created me out of nothing, redeemed me by the death of Thy Son and sanctified me by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Thou has called me to the Church and given me the Graces necessary for my salvation. Thou has preserved me during the night past and given me the present day wherein I may serve Thee. What return can I make to Thee, oh my God, for all that Thou has done for me. I will bless Thy holy name and serve Thee all the days of my life.

I offer to Thee oh my God all my prayers, works joys, actions and sufferings and I beseech Thee to give me Thy Grace that I may not offend Thee on this day but I may faithfully serve Thee and do Thy holy will in all things.*

I then usually ask for some special Graces to help me with some particular faults or temptations that I am having trouble with. If I’m going to Mass I use the peace of the Church to say them there. As I said, these are personal prayers and I find them very helpful. Also, i say some others with the family before they go to school.
 
Stavros said:
Our priests at my parish (FSSP) say that the minimum prayers a person should be praying every day is 3 Aves morning and night for the grace to live their vocation, a morning offering, morning and evening prayers, Mental Prayer for 15-30 minutes a day, and a daily Rosary.

I’m a convert, so I don’t know what traditionally constitutes “Morning Prayers” and “Evening Prayers”. I looked in my Baltimore Catechism #2, and it just says to pray morning and evening, but it doesn’t say what prayers to pray, or if it should be verbal prayers (Ave/Pater Noster, etc) or personal prayers. I find that if I pray my 3 Aves, a morning offering, and the Morning Prayers from my 1962 missal, I’m pushing close to 30 minutes without a single original word of thanksgiving or petition. I go to the 6:30a daily mass, so I find to be able to say morning prayers, eat a light breakfast and still make my hour fasting window, take a shower, gather my things for my work day, and drive to mass, I have to be up by 4:45a (!!). And again, that’s without any time for personal prayers, just what is prescribed in the missal.

I know God isn’t a scorekeeper per se, and I tend to lean towards being overly scrupulous when it comes to my prayer life. After daily mass, I usually spend 45 minutes to an hour praying the Rosary, praying mental prayer, journaling, or reading. It’s just an informal Holy Hour depending on my mood for the day. The important thing for me is the time spent keeping Him company in the blessed sacrament, and being committed to spending that time as often as I can.

So here are my questions:
  1. If you were raised Catholic, what were you always taught should be your Morning Prayers?
  2. How much time do you spend in them on average?
  3. If you go to Daily Mass in the early morning, do you combine your morning prayers with your mass (either before or after)? If you go to Daily Mass in the evening, do you combine your evening prayers with your mass (either before or after)?
Click to expand...
You could get the book prayers of the hour.
 
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