Drowning in Devotions

One of the great things about being Catholic is all the devotions that we have. We have the rosary, chaplet of Divine Mercy, devotion to saints, novenas, devotion to the Blessed Mother, etc. etc. etc. We have so many prayers and opportunities, not to mention daily mass, holy days of obligation, confession, penance services, Bible studies, faith formation classes, hundreds of thousands of books by Catholic authors, etc. etc. etc.

Thinking about this, I think I sometimes overwhelm myself. There have been very spiritually high times in my life where I have been able to do the Liturgy of the Hours, the Rosary, and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy each and every day. Unfortunately, many times when I forget to do one, I wouldn't do any of them for a certain day, or when you start to let things go like that you can even get off schedule and fall into spiritual lethargy.

During this lent (By the way, how are your Lenten resolutions going?), I have made it a point to say the Morning and Evening prayers (and many times Night prayer) from the Liturgy of the Hours/Divine Office/Breviary. It's been wonderful. I've decided that instead of trying to tackle too much or get myself quickly into a commitment I can't keep, that I am going to commit myself even after Lent to continue praying these main offices DAILY. That will be my devotion - devotion to the prayer of the Church Universal and praying the Psalms daily. That isn't to say that I am never going to pray the rosary (we actually do that every day after daily mass when I am able to attend) or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, or prayers to my patron saints, or novenas, or anything else. Just that I am going to focus and work hard on this devotion, and maybe add more after I have mastered the ability to pray all 7 offices each day.

As I am discerning a possible future calling to the Diaconate, I really need to get used to the potential future obligation to pray them anyway.

Hope your lent is going well. My wife and I are headed to Hawaii for a work trip for me and a vacation for her soon. Maybe I'll have some time to blog there.