Part I
Part II

So, a week ago I sallied forth to the airport, to begin a week of business travel; I was armed with Shorter Christian Prayer and the Discovering Prayer tutorial. My plan was to try to say Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer, each day while I was gone, and then to continue if possible. I was scheduled to return home on Friday; in the event, I returned home on Thursday. It’s now Monday, and I’ve kept to my resolution. And so what? What’s the upshot? Has this experiment borne fruit?

Frankly, it’s very hard to say with any certainty. If I’m doing it right, the effects of a life of regular prayer are more likely to be noticed by others than by me. But here are my impressions.

I like it. I’ve been looking forward to these regular prayer times.

It’s efficient. That’s not a word one usually associates with prayer; but when I finish Morning Prayer, as I did a short while ago, I know that I’ve prayed and that I’ve heard the word of God. Given that I work a normal work week, and have the usual family obligations, this is a good thing.

I’ve been much more intentional about remembering the people for whom I need to pray. Both Morning and Evening Prayer have a time of intercession similar to that during the Mass, only better. At Mass, we’re given a very short time for our own intentions. When saying Morning Prayer privately, I have time to go through the whole list. There have been times in the past when I’ve tried to be very careful to pray for everyone, and it’s always become a burden in short order, precisely because I always spent too much time trying to be spontaneous. Day after day, this becomes an effort to find new ways to tell God in great detail things he already knows. Blech. The form of the intercessions is so much easier: it’s always more or less “For so-and-so, that such-and-such; Lord hear our prayer.” The response changes from Hour to Hour and day to day, but the rest need not. In essence, my personal intentions become a custom litany, and that’s neat.

Even on casual acquaintance, it’s clear that the psalms and prayers chosen for each Hour of each day of the year have been carefully selected. As one moves through the Hours and days, there’s a rhythm to it that I’m dimly beginning to see. And there’s definitely a peace to it. In the past, I’ve usually felt that the burden has been on me to pray well. With this, it’s less about me speaking to God and more about God speaking to me through the psalms, canticles, and readings. However you slice it, that’s got to be a good thing.

On the whole, my experience has been positive, and I plan to continue with the Hours at least through Lent. By that time it should be clear whether this is something for the long-term or not. (I’m rather expecting that it will be….)