Consecrating the Day: Seven Times I Praise You

"By your morning prayer you open your soul's windows to the sunshine of righteousness, and by your evening devotions you close them against the shades of hell." ~Francis de Sales

I love this quote from Francis de Sales, because it highlights the importance of prayer at certain times of the day. This is my last blog post on the consecration of time, so I'm going to discuss prayer during the day.

First and foremost, it's very important to commit to a certain time of day for prayer and study. It can be early in the morning, after lunch, or right before you go to bed: the important thing is to find a time that actually works for you. We're really busy, and have all sorts of obligations clamoring for our attention. If we don't purposely set aside a reasonable length of time for prayer (while casually remarking to ourselves that "we need to find time at some point"), it's likely not to get done. Planning a daily time for Scripture meditation, study, and prayer is important to ensure that we get this in. Additionally, the action of setting aside this time disciplines our unruly souls into understanding that time for God is a priority.

Of course, we're called to pray at all times, which means that offering up our actions to God and spontaneously praying are a must. But beyond daily devotional time, are there other ways we could be using the day to bring consistency to our prayer life?

The idea of using the hours of the day to remind us to set aside time for prayer is rooted strongly in Scripture. Psalm 119 proclaims, "seven times a day I praise You." From the earliest days of the Church, Christians have used the hours of the day to remind them to make time for prayer. In Acts 3, Peter and John observe a time of prayer at "the ninth hour."  In Acts 10, Peter sets aside time for prayer at "about the sixth hour." Tertullian remarks that "the extrinsic observance of certain hours will not be unprofitable [for prayer]--those common hours, I mean, which mark the intervals of the day." (On Prayer, 25)

Being documented in Scripture and the practice of the apostles is reason enough to imitate something, but beyond that, why block off these times? When we make a point of returning to prayer at specific times, we realize that God is the ultimate priority. If I'm planning to pray midmorning, then I'll need to find a way to fit the Latin homework I was planning to do then around that. Our schedules become ordered towards time for God: prayer comes first, and then we fill in everything around that.

Now, we do have classes and family commitments, but once we take these into account, I think it's important to pray at least two or three times during the day. However, picking one additional prayer time and consistently keeping it is certainly better than loading on too much and failing.

One thing I've personally found helpful when it comes to praying throughout the day is praying Scripture. For centuries, Christians have used the Psalms for daily prayer, reading a few each time they pray (be that three or five or even seven times a day) When I'm tired or distracted and have a hard time formulating an original prayer, following their lead and turning to the prayers of Scripture helps me avoid letting my emotions/present feelings dictate how I pray.

God gives us a blessing in each new day He sets before us. It's only proper to give back to Him by setting aside regular sections of that day for prayer. May we follow the example of the Psalmist in praying "evening and morning and at noon." (Ps. 55:18)