A Daily plan of Life

Friends in Christ, today, after the long beautiful Christmas season we return to Ordinary time.

We see today how Our Lord calls his first disciples; “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Those disciples were eager to follow Christ, but they had to learn how to do it, how to keep going and not lose their focus or get off track. They did get off track a lot, but eventually they figured it out and became saints.

.

Now Mother Church has figured out, through the centuries – by the experiences of holy men and women – that in order to live the Christian life well, we need to have what we can call a Daily Plan of Life. What does this mean?

.

We might think it means to write down a plan of the things we have to do today – and that actually is a good idea. But the Plan of Life we speak of, consists of the pious actions and activities that we wish to habitually do, which will help us keep the Lord in mind all day, and thereby do everything for God’s glory.

.

Our Plan of Life could include:

First, upon rising, we kneel down and make a Morning Offering. This is a prayer in which we offer everything we do for God’s glory, asking for the Lord’s help, and I would say, telling Jesus that we love him with our whole heart, speaking a word to Our Father in heaven, and the Holy Spirit.

.

We pray before each meal: Bless us O Lord.

We might say the Angelus at noon.

.

So we are punctuating our day with prayer.

And before we go to bed, we kneel down and make a brief examination of conscience, an Act of Contrition. And a ‘good night to Mary’, before sleep.

This frames out our day.

.

But added to this, we would like some time to meditate, or what we would call mental prayer – to just ‘think’, and speak to the Lord.

We also try to fit in the Rosary – it only takes 20 minutes.

10 minutes of spiritual reading, from a good Catholic book.

5 minutes from the Holy Scriptures.

And if we can, stop by the Church or chapel to make a Visit to Jesus, even if just to say, ‘I believe, I love you.’

.

Now through the day, we try to make little ‘Aspirations:’ ‘Jesus I love you. ‘Help me O Holy Spirit. ‘Mary, help me to know your love. ‘My Guardian angel, guide me.

.

All of these acts of piety help us to live daily, Our Christian Life; and if you ask the saints, they will tell you that it really works to keep you on the path to heaven.