How to Build Your Prayer Life This Year

Father Mark-Mary shares a goal-setting technique that helped make Google...well, Google. But instead of using this goal-setting technique for worldly gain, Father shows you how to use it to establish a prayer routine that will change your life. 

First, you’ll need to develop a taste for prayer. You’ll start with 20 minutes of prayer a day (two sets of 10 minutes). You’ll learn how to make a weekly examen, and you’ll visit the Blessed Sacrament once a week. After three months, you’ll be ready for the next steps. 

After developing a taste for prayer, you’ll move on to forming a habit of prayer. You’ll continue your regimen of 20 minutes of daily prayer (10 min, twice daily) and your weekly examen, but you’ll make two of your prayer sessions full, uninterrupted 20 minute periods. And, you’ll add one more visit to the Blessed Sacrament. After three months of establishing this habit, you’ll be ready for the next level of deepening your prayer life. 

Once you have formed a habit of prayer, you’ll begin to develop a taste for silence. You’ll continue with your weekly examen and increase your daily prayer time to 30 minutes of prayer. Within those 30 minutes of daily prayer, you’ll pray with scripture 3 times/week, for 10 minutes at a time. Lastly, you’ll make 10 minutes of your daily prayers silent prayer five times a week. 

In your final three months of the year, you’ll move on to forming the habit of listening in prayer. At this point, your prayer regimen includes 40 minutes of daily prayer, including 20 minutes of daily silent prayer, 40 total minutes of prayer with scripture weekly and a weekly examen. 

It sounds like a lot, but remember, you’ll be getting there by making small incremental changes that build upon steps you’ve already taken. It’s a simple principle, but if you commit to following this goal-setting method, you’ll be a prayer warrior by the end of the year. 

Also check out these products on prayer from Ascension: 

• Oremus: A Guide to Catholic Prayer (https://ascensionpress.com/collection...)
• Praying Scripture for a Change: An Introduction to Lectio Divina (https://ascensionpress.com/products/p...)
• How to Pray Like Mary Book + Online Video Access Bundle (https://ascensionpress.com/collection...)
• Pocket Guide to the Rosary (https://ascensionpress.com/products/p...)

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