Thanks for doing this. I'm curious about others' daily devotional life. I've been Catholic for only ten years; I see how my routine has changed and what I'd like to be doing vs reality.
"I’ve heard 'On Eagle’s Wings' at the funerals of so many loved ones that now, even though I fully know the obvious weakness of the schmaltzy stand-by, it does its work on me."
It is also dear to me.
The Easter that I became Catholic, I was in college...and not just in college, but on a semester abroad in Rome. My classmates were called upon to improvise a hymn or two for the little Vigil that was organized for us English-speakers at the convent where we were staying...and "On Eagle's Wings" was just about the only one enough of them knew well enough from memory to pull off.
It is an objectively poor hymn across multiple dimensions, and as for my dear friends' a cappella rendition that evening...it's probably just as well it took place years before everyone had recording devices on them at all times.
But it is not an allergy to any of that which is bringing tears to my eyes as I remember it.
P.S. Glad to read the kind words about our Ordinariate office.
(I too subscribed to Magnificat before taking up my current practice; what a beautiful gift that publication can be to a layperson's life of prayer.)
The Coverdale psalter is a big part of what makes this office a gem for me...and not only on properly sober, pious, and theological grounds either. Any psalter with unicorns in it has an inside track to my affections right off the bat, that's just how it is...and there is further delight every time my wife and I pray the Office of the Dead (our parish has organized a guild that takes turns, ensuring the faithful departed are prayed for every day), and Evensong begins with Psalm 130, which we affectionately call "the Foghorn Leghorn psalm" because of verse 6.
Psalm 130. De profundis.
OUT of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord; * Lord, hear my voice.
2 O let thine ears consider well * the voice of my complaint.
3 If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, * O Lord, who may abide it?
4 For there is mercy with thee; * therefore shalt thou be feared.
5 I look for the Lord; my soul doth wait for him; * in his word is my trust.
6 My soul fleeth unto the Lord before the morning watch; * I say, before the morning watch.
7 O Israel, trust in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, * and with him is plenteous redemption.
As a relatively new convert (have been attending mass regularly for about 2 1/2 years, received into the church about a year and 1/2 ago) who has at various times fell under the sway of "Tradbros" I really needed to read this. Thank you, Deacon.
Well, this article came across my page at the bottom of a slump where changes in my career and social life have wrecked my prayer schedule leaving my devotional practices not unlike Galveston Island in 2008. Its crazy to me how not a single thing actually carried with it the momentum to endure through the shock. Not a fan to say the least. Any tips?
No plan survives first contact with the enemy. Ignatians sometimes say that no matter what, stick to the prayer plan, but in my experience that's simply not always possible. It may have been a trial, or it may have been the wrong plan at the wrong time. The only thing to do is to pick up the pieces and try again, maybe exploring different practices and starting small and simple. There's nothing gained by beating yourself up. Perhaps some group or spirituality (Dominican, Benedictine, Carmelite) might be good glue to hold things together. The thing to do when it all crashes down is just practice the presence of God in all things: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Practice_of_the_Presence_of_God
Thanks for doing this. I'm curious about others' daily devotional life. I've been Catholic for only ten years; I see how my routine has changed and what I'd like to be doing vs reality.
"I’ve heard 'On Eagle’s Wings' at the funerals of so many loved ones that now, even though I fully know the obvious weakness of the schmaltzy stand-by, it does its work on me."
It is also dear to me.
The Easter that I became Catholic, I was in college...and not just in college, but on a semester abroad in Rome. My classmates were called upon to improvise a hymn or two for the little Vigil that was organized for us English-speakers at the convent where we were staying...and "On Eagle's Wings" was just about the only one enough of them knew well enough from memory to pull off.
It is an objectively poor hymn across multiple dimensions, and as for my dear friends' a cappella rendition that evening...it's probably just as well it took place years before everyone had recording devices on them at all times.
But it is not an allergy to any of that which is bringing tears to my eyes as I remember it.
P.S. Glad to read the kind words about our Ordinariate office.
(I too subscribed to Magnificat before taking up my current practice; what a beautiful gift that publication can be to a layperson's life of prayer.)
The Coverdale psalter is a big part of what makes this office a gem for me...and not only on properly sober, pious, and theological grounds either. Any psalter with unicorns in it has an inside track to my affections right off the bat, that's just how it is...and there is further delight every time my wife and I pray the Office of the Dead (our parish has organized a guild that takes turns, ensuring the faithful departed are prayed for every day), and Evensong begins with Psalm 130, which we affectionately call "the Foghorn Leghorn psalm" because of verse 6.
Psalm 130. De profundis.
OUT of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord; * Lord, hear my voice.
2 O let thine ears consider well * the voice of my complaint.
3 If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, * O Lord, who may abide it?
4 For there is mercy with thee; * therefore shalt thou be feared.
5 I look for the Lord; my soul doth wait for him; * in his word is my trust.
6 My soul fleeth unto the Lord before the morning watch; * I say, before the morning watch.
7 O Israel, trust in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, * and with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel * from all his sins.
I’m going to seek permission to make it my permanent breviary, so that it fulfills my clerical obligation for the day
As a relatively new convert (have been attending mass regularly for about 2 1/2 years, received into the church about a year and 1/2 ago) who has at various times fell under the sway of "Tradbros" I really needed to read this. Thank you, Deacon.
Thank you! Part 2 just went up. https://thomaslmcdonald.substack.com/p/my-prayer-routine-how-its-going
Well, this article came across my page at the bottom of a slump where changes in my career and social life have wrecked my prayer schedule leaving my devotional practices not unlike Galveston Island in 2008. Its crazy to me how not a single thing actually carried with it the momentum to endure through the shock. Not a fan to say the least. Any tips?
No plan survives first contact with the enemy. Ignatians sometimes say that no matter what, stick to the prayer plan, but in my experience that's simply not always possible. It may have been a trial, or it may have been the wrong plan at the wrong time. The only thing to do is to pick up the pieces and try again, maybe exploring different practices and starting small and simple. There's nothing gained by beating yourself up. Perhaps some group or spirituality (Dominican, Benedictine, Carmelite) might be good glue to hold things together. The thing to do when it all crashes down is just practice the presence of God in all things: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Practice_of_the_Presence_of_God