"After you have made a decision that is pleasing to God, the Devil may try to make you have second thoughts. Intensify your prayer time, meditation, and good deeds. For if Satan's temptations merely cause you to increase your efforts to grow in holiness, he'll have an incentive to leave you alone." - St. Ignatius of Loyola
I can really relate to that - the first part, that is. Several times I've found myself thinking "Oooh, yes, I must stop and pray my Office (or whatever)" and then "...just as soon as I've done this..." gets added in, almost seamlessly. And before I know it, I'm up to my neck in other things, with my original resolution forgotten.
It had never occurred to me that this was a deliberate ploy of the devil.
I shall endeavour to be more "spontaneous" and go with my original resolutions... ...and, on that note, I shall bid you all goodnight!
8 comments:
I get myself caught on the 'second thoughts' trap as well. Saying the Rosary with my morning coffee while reading my Rosary book is a handy way of starting my day. After which the day's events just 'click' into place. Many thanks Our Blessed Mother; we love you.
Question for you: as a person under private vows, is your obligation to recite the Office canonical or otherwise binding on pain of sin?
Despite the vows, I am a lay person, so the Office isn't canonically binding, and hence, according to my SD, not praying the Office isn't a mortal sin; but it's something I have promised to do, so I consider not praying it something for Confession.
Having said that, my SD has told me that I should consider Prime, Vespers and Compline as the minimum to be prayed when I'm working (school term time) and do the lot (excluding Matins, so Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers & Compline) during the holidays and weekends... (I pray using the Farnborough Monastic Diurnal)
So, if I don't follow my original inspiration, I end up with rather a lot of Office to catch up on...
You remind me of that lovely line in 'Sinister Street' : 'Where is he ?' 'He's saying Vespers for Tuesday of the week before last !'
Ah, then you say the Office in the Extraordinary Form! To that I have not graduated, though when Baronius Press comes out with its Breviarum Romanum, I may have to look into it. That may become a necessity if Mass in the Extraordinary Form appears here more regularly than at present, because it feels kind of schizophrenic to bounce back and forth between rites (and especially between calendars).
The Rule of St. Dominic does not bind on pain of sin, which is fortunate for me, since, on account of my lack of perseverance, it took me a year to learn how to say the Office. I'd give up for weeks at a time out of frustration during my postulancy. I don't think it was until after I made my temporary profession that I got it together enough to get the hang of it.
Dominic Mary - very droll. Apparently that was one of Luther's problems... he'd leave the Office for ages, and then have to "catch up." Fortunately, my SD has informed me that, if I don't say it on the day, catching up doesn't count... which gives me that added incentive to get it done on time.
Anita - when Baronius get their breviary sorted, I too will have to consider it. The Monastic Diurnal, being Benedictine, has its own calendar, and the ranks of feasts don't "fit" with the EF Calendar, so I can't quite mix and match!
Dominic Mary: what's 'Sinister Street'?
Mac: yes, I find one of the 'gifts' of the Devil to be procrastination. Like you say, one simply has to get on with the original task at hand!
I'm glad 'catching up' doesn't count, despite being sad that I don't always get all the Hours in. Still, I have only promised to pray Lauds, Sext, Vespers and Compline.
I use the Monastic Diurnal, though not with great regularity at the moment. Due to the sad misfortune of not having access to Mass daily in either the ordinary or the extraordinary form, the discrepancies of the Benedictine from either of the other two calendars don't affect me too much.
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