spiritual
Traditional Techniques
“Prayer is in fact the recognition of our limits and our dependence: we come from god, we are of god, and to God we return! We can therefore only abandon ourselves to him, our lord and creator, with absolute, total trust.”
— Pope Saint John Paul II
Rosary
The ancient Catholic prayer that meditates on the mysteries of Jesus’ life found in Holy Scripture. Meditation of each mystery of Christ’s life is done by reciting the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be repetitively. There are four sets of mysteries in total — each taking about 15-20 minutes to complete.
For greatest spiritual progress, it is recommended that at least one mystery is prayed a day — although great saints recommend praying all four mysteries!
Divine Mercy Chaplet
Revealed by Jesus to Saint Faustina in the 20th century. This is a power house of prayer when it comes to unlocking God’s “ocean of mercy.” Praying this chaplet devoutly will undoubtedly unleash an overflow of peace and grace within the soul — no matter the circumstance!
This is prayed using the same beads as the Rosary yet with a different set of prayers and is completed within 7-10 minutes.
Liturgy Of The Hours
Also known as the Divine Office or Opus Dei. This form of prayer fulfills the encouragement to “pray without ceasing.” This is the daily prayer of the universal Church that is marked by five main hours: Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Daytime Prayer, Evening Prayer, Night Prayer.
Reading times vary, depending on the hour. Lengthier prayers (i.e., morning prayers) can takes 15-30 minutes while shorter prayers (i.e., night prayer) can take a brief 5-10 minutes.
Morning Offering
A Catholic way of starting your day with great purpose. Blessed Carlo Acutis and countless other saints have given much credit to the simple yet powerful prayer that is the morning offering. This is a simple 2 minute prayer that dedicates your entire day to God: the good, the bad, the everything! Many graces are experienced in the action of uniting our joys and sufferings to Christ as we begin the day.
Lectio Divina
A traditional and monastic practice of prayerfully reading Scripture. Lectio Divina is built with 4-5 steps (the fifth step being optional but most like to include it!): Reading, Prayer, Meditation, Contemplation, Action.
Lectio Divina can be an abbreviated process of 10-15 minutes yet allowing the prayer to be double or triple that (yes — up to even 45 minutes) would absolutely deepen the spiritual fruits and clarity that come with the process.
This is an excellent blend of vocal, meditative, and contemplative prayer.
Novenas
Varying devotions and prayers that consist of nine consecutive days. This is typically done in preparation for a liturgical feast day, for a special intention, or for something that is particularly urgent or time sensitive.
There is a novena for nearly anything! Some favorites include: Our Lady Undoer of Knots, Surrender Novena, Litany of Trust Novena, Novena for Impossible Requests, and of course a novena to nearly any saint. The list goes on!
