A Prayer Schedule
A prayer schedule I recommend for Stay-At-Home Catholicism (not to mention Stay-At-Home
Monasticism):
1) Morning prayers (including The Morning Offering and Three Hail Marys);
2) The Most Holy Rosary (all three Mysteries, if possible);*
3) Divine Office (at least one of the hours per day, using this manual;
4) The Daily Mass (using this Missal or this one).
5) The Angelus at 6 a.m. (if awake by then), 12 noon and 6 p.m., in accord with our European ancestors;
6) Prayers Before and After Meals (in fact even before, snacks or drinks);
7) Evening Prayers, including Act of Contrition and Three Hail Marys.
These forementioned would seem to be the essential prayers, and if you have more time, then:
8) The Little Crown of the Japanese Martyrs (for those of us especially dedicated to Tecla Hashimoto,
(such as those of us who are devotees of Tecla Hashimoto), said to be prayed for the conversion of Japan and
the Far East -- to which I'd add most especially China and the whole world);
9) Novena to the Most Precious Wounds (i.e., for the souls in Purgatory, though I also pray it for
"those living in mortal sin, those yet to be converted, and for my own poor dear soul...." Then (on
a Rosary): "Heavenly Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Wounds of Jesus Christ, to heal the
wounds of my soul" on the Our Father beads, and "My Jesus, pardon and mercy through
Thy Most Precious Wounds" on the Hail Mary beads'
10) The Seven Sorrows of Mary (i.e., according to the method of St. Alphonsus Liguori, with
a special prayer before each and then one Our Father and seven Hail Marys per each
Sorrow (although, if it be late in the day, one may perhaps shorten it to one Hail
Mary per each Sorrow (as I, myself, usually do)));
11) Stations of the Cross (again according to the method of St. Alphonsus Liguori, time-
permitting)**** (and the reason I put the Stations after the Seven Sorrows of Mary is because
I have read (I think in the mystical writings of St. Brigid of Sweden) that Jesus once appeared
to her and told her the greatest sorrow of His Passion was the pain it gave His Mother);
12) You may, of course, add a couple fast days per week as well..... (I prefer Wed. & Sat.)
God bless and may Tecla bless you abundantly!
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* I have been told by former friends of the group called "Opus Dei" that a pious tradition has it that
if one does not finish one's Rosary by the time one goes to bed, one's Guardian Angel may (will?)
finish it for you. As for myself, at the end of each Rosary, I add various prayers that I may sur-
vey in another post......
** I'm personally not in favor of so-called "home altars," unless a valid priest were coming into the
home to say a Mass (for reasons of necessity, such as public persecution of the Church), at which
point I am fully in favor of a blessed and consecrated home altar, but such a possibility seems
not possible today........
*** The Spiritual Communion prayers are available in both the St. Andrew and Fr. Lasance missals.
I myself keep a prayer card of Christ holding a chalice and wafer of the Eucharist before me and on
the back a "Spiritual Communion Prayer" that I pray at the given time;
**** And when time doesn't permit, I believe one may (as I do) simply meditate briefly on the given
station; then silently pray, "We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross
Thou hast redeemed the world"; then, strike your right fist gently (or more strongly, if you prefer
-- I, myself, prefer the stronger stroke) to your left breast (over your heart) and pray silently,
"Lord Jesus Crucified, have mercy on us!"
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December 8, 2023, Feast of the Immaculate Conception
(Last edited 3/29/24.)