Starting Each Workday Off Right During Lent
(Last week, we were comparing our Lenten discipline to the typical discipline we all have to practice in our work lives. Now let's look at something we originally posted March 13, 2012.)
Lent's a good time to focus on fundamentals, like starting each day off right before you're running around getting ready for your work day.
Morning Offering:
Think about these words, don't just say them. Remember the words have meaning; in the case of prayer profound, meaning.
(This morning, I was struck by "reunion of all Christians." It's not good that the Body of Christ has been separated - going all the way back to the split between Rome and Constantinople in 1054, extending through the Protestant Revolution, continuing to today's modernists who spread heresy and heterodoxy even among us who call ourselves Catholic.)
Unless I'm pressed to leave the house especially early, I spend ten minutes meditating - ten minutes where I try (and sometimes succeed!) to push out all thoughts except for God. "Dear Lord, please increase _____ and ______ ." (I really need more of these two virtues! Where do you especially need God's help? Ask Him for help for a few minutes. It's a simple form of meditation.)
Then I'm off to a quiet living room (no one else is up yet) to my Bible, along with some spiritual reading and doctrinal study - maybe 10 - 15 minutes with each. Again, I'm doing my best to concentrate on what I'm reading, not on those thoughts about work or maybe some personal matter that press in on me and distract me. (Do you tend to think about work a lot when you're not working? Try not to. Besides stealing from your family when you're around them, it takes you away from the present moment.)
Somewhere in there, I'm making the coffee for the household. While I do that, I genuflect in the morning silence and say a silent prayer:
(This morning, the "fortitude" part of this simple prayer struck me. We need courageous Catholics these days. We Catholics are under attack by the government's "Obamacare" mandate. It's not just someone else's fight. It's my fight. And I pray that our Bishops will persist courageously in refusing to comply with this immoral government demand.)
The key to this first hour of my day is to keep my mind on God, not my "To Do" list for the day (and my work is always pressing me to do more!). Sometimes I actually succeed. During Lent, I work on this and other fundamentals. I'm not so much trying to do more, or do things more efficiently, or somehow perform my routine perfectly. (That might just feed my ego and make me self-centered.) I want to concentrate my thoughts and open my heart and mind to God during this special time before the workday takes over most of my attention.
When I succeed, my day starts off right.
Lent's a good time to focus on fundamentals, like starting each day off right before you're running around getting ready for your work day.
Morning Offering:
Oh
Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer thee my prayers,
works, joys and sufferings this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of
the Mass throughout the world for all the intentions of thy Sacred
Heart: salvation of souls, reparation for sins, reunion of all
Christians. I offer them for the intentions of thy Bishops and all
apostles of prayer, especially for those intentions recommended this
month by our Holy Father.
Think about these words, don't just say them. Remember the words have meaning; in the case of prayer profound, meaning.
(This morning, I was struck by "reunion of all Christians." It's not good that the Body of Christ has been separated - going all the way back to the split between Rome and Constantinople in 1054, extending through the Protestant Revolution, continuing to today's modernists who spread heresy and heterodoxy even among us who call ourselves Catholic.)
Unless I'm pressed to leave the house especially early, I spend ten minutes meditating - ten minutes where I try (and sometimes succeed!) to push out all thoughts except for God. "Dear Lord, please increase _____ and ______ ." (I really need more of these two virtues! Where do you especially need God's help? Ask Him for help for a few minutes. It's a simple form of meditation.)
Then I'm off to a quiet living room (no one else is up yet) to my Bible, along with some spiritual reading and doctrinal study - maybe 10 - 15 minutes with each. Again, I'm doing my best to concentrate on what I'm reading, not on those thoughts about work or maybe some personal matter that press in on me and distract me. (Do you tend to think about work a lot when you're not working? Try not to. Besides stealing from your family when you're around them, it takes you away from the present moment.)
Somewhere in there, I'm making the coffee for the household. While I do that, I genuflect in the morning silence and say a silent prayer:
Jesus,
I genuflect before thee humbly, begging your mercy and forgiveness, for
- like the Publican - I am a sinner. Grant me the understanding to know
your will, the wisdom to accept and the fortitude to do it.
(This morning, the "fortitude" part of this simple prayer struck me. We need courageous Catholics these days. We Catholics are under attack by the government's "Obamacare" mandate. It's not just someone else's fight. It's my fight. And I pray that our Bishops will persist courageously in refusing to comply with this immoral government demand.)
The key to this first hour of my day is to keep my mind on God, not my "To Do" list for the day (and my work is always pressing me to do more!). Sometimes I actually succeed. During Lent, I work on this and other fundamentals. I'm not so much trying to do more, or do things more efficiently, or somehow perform my routine perfectly. (That might just feed my ego and make me self-centered.) I want to concentrate my thoughts and open my heart and mind to God during this special time before the workday takes over most of my attention.
When I succeed, my day starts off right.
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