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| "Saint Aloysius Assists Victims of the Plague" |
Getting more practice. One benchmark has been to begin Prime at 7:00 AM. This has been successful now for going on two weeks.
I like this idea of "lavishing minutes" on the Lord's work. Confer the first and second versions of the third verse of "America the Beautiful." The third version conveys it in different words, but also nicely.
Saint John tells it best in Revelation: "Love for life did not deter them from death." It's this idea of cherishing more intensely the things that should be more intensely cherished. In Revelation it refers to gaining the victory in the angelic warfare over satan by the Blood of the Lamb. In my recitation of the Divine Office, it refers to gaining the victory over my laziness, my lack of diligence and my desire to cheat God by the Blood of the same Lamb for the sake of the faithful.
So, even if my own "free time" (whether there should even be such a thing is a different story) is something I cherish, how about cherishing the Lord's work more and not deterring myself from it for any lesser good.
One goal that has begun to emerge has been Matins at 5:00 AM, Lauds at 6:00 AM, Prime at 7:00 AM, Mass at 8:00 AM, Terce at 9:00 AM.
For this, Reveille will really probably need to be at 4:15 AM. If it's at 4:30 AM, 5:00 AM won't happen. Not the end of the world. But I do want to get Lauds situated at 6:00 AM just like I've been managing to do with Prime at 7:00 AM. This will allow the 30 Minutes of mental prayer to lead up to Prime after Lauds. It will free up the time leading up to Mass, perhaps for confessions.
It will allow the Lord's Work time to breathe, instead of piling it up one hour upon the next non-stop. The whole thing, if I'm not careful—Matins through Terce (including Mass)—can all happen in pretty much one uninterrupted stream of recited prayers. Which means, about 120 minutes of non-stop recitation. That's a lot. And if I'm hurrying at all, it's gross and not at all pleasing to the Lord. Putting a "scourge" into the hand of the Divine Master, a la Tra le Sollecitudine.
Lavishing the minutes so that the Lord's Work is spread out more, gives it a chance to breathe. Makes it real nice. Something you can invite folks to pray.
