Since today is Sunday, let's talk about prayers. Is your prayer life organized? Do you wonder if it should be organized? Well, I say yes, it should. If you don't set up certain times during your day to pray then chances are you will never get around to it. I can say, however, that even when you do have set times there will be days when you get to bedtime and remember you never even said your morning prayers!
Yesterday morning was a prime example! It was Saturday, which lately means soccer day. I got up a bit later than I had anticipated and, since none of the kids were up, instead of spending that quite time with my morning prayer routine, I spent it chatting with my hubby. Well, before we knew it we were really running behind schedule and had to rush around to get ready so I skipped my morning prayers, only to find out 15 minutes before leaving that soccer had been cancelled due to rain. Oh well.
I'm a big fan of St. Ignatius and his Spiritual Exercises and he recommends the following in the way of an organized prayer life:
15 minutes of meditation per day
Daily Mass
30 minutes of Spiritual reading
The daily Rosary
Mid-day particular examination of conscience
End of day general examen
You can use this as a good outline to get your prayer life organized. Shoot for specific times every day to pray: morning, mid-day, evening. You can start out small and once you get into a routine you can increase the amount of time and the number of prayers you say.
I truly believe that this time that you set aside to pray, no matter how busy you may be, is the best thing you can do for yourself and for your family. Really, having an organized prayer life is what keeps me sane and this family running the way it should.
Have a restful Sunday!
God Bless!
