Morning Prayer Again

I've been reading the Morning Prayer service regularly now for several weeks. As I keep up this habit, I'm finding more and more things to like about it.

I like that it's made getting ready to take communion easier. Before mass, you're supposed to examine yourself, and confess any sins you've committed since the last time you went to mass. I don't know about you, but for me, this often consists of running through the past week quickly in my head, and then apologizing to my husband in the car on the way to church. Not exactly ideal.

But since I've been reading Morning Prayer every day, it's felt like I'm keeping shorter accounts. One of the first prayers in the service is the Confession, preceded by a moment of silence to think of what you're confessing. Doing this every day leaves me feeling much more prepared to take communion, because Sunday morning on the way to church is not the first time in the week I've consciously repented of my sins!

(I also have to note that confessing my sins every day prompts me to sin less, either because daily confession reminds me of what my perpetual temptations are, or because the thought of confessing later what I'm about to do now is so distasteful that I avoid the sin in order to avoid the confession. :D Either way, it's a good deterrant, and I'm grateful.)


I also like that morning prayer provides a set time and place to pray for my friends and family, especially the ones who are undergoing some particular trial or suffering some particular sorrow, or who are taking a stab at some particularly hard duty. You always say you'll pray for people, but it's easy to forget, and I find that Morning Prayer gives me one more place in my day to remember to make the petitions I promised to make. (The set place in MP to make those petitions, btw, is towards the end, just before the General Thanksgiving, where it says "Authorized intercessions and thanksgivings may follow.")


There's a lot more I like about Morning Prayer, but those three things alone: coming to communion more prepared, being prompted to sin less, and being prompted to pray for my loved ones, make saying Morning Prayer worthwhile for me.

And, maybe most importantly, I like starting my day by praising God. Saying, "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever" feels like the right way for a Christian to begin her work each day. It's starting the day with worship, with giving God his due. It just feels right. I'm sorry I've come to this habit so late, but I'm very grateful to have it now. It feels like a present from God. A "here, do this; it will serve me and help you." A very fatherly sort of a gift.

Which is to say, all this good stuff is not any virtue of mine. I think things like Morning Prayer, and all good traditions and words handed down to us by Christians who've gone before, are just more evidence of God's grace and love to us. I'm just glad that these resources exist to help us as we follow the Lord. He knows we need habits and help in order to be virtuous. I'm terribly afraid this post will sound snobby ("ooo, I read Morning Prayer"), but it's not meant that way. I just want to share something cool I've found. Please forgive me if it doesn't come across well! This post is meant as a thanksgiving. So . . .

Thanks be to God!


peace of Christ to you,
Jessica

p.s. the picture is of an olive tree in my front yard. In honor of all the tree references in the Psalms, the Psalms being an integral part of Morning Prayer.

p.p.s. For those of you fellow moms reading, who wonder where in my day I have time for Morning Prayer: I read it while my daughter is in her room having her quiet time, and my son is nursing down for his first nap. (Bess' quiet time comes whenever Gamgee is ready to sleep. It's a moveable feast.)