Daily Prayer Q4 2025 Goal

6:17 PM Sunday. My daily prayer life has changed somewhat since I wrote My Church: An April 2025 Snapshot about six months ago. The photo above shows my new Christian meditation space following some furniture rearrangements after I downsized from a full to a twin bed. Lately, I haven't been sitting in formal 20-minute Centering Prayer sessions twice daily, nor have I been sitting for double prayer sessions on Saturdays. I do usually sit on the cushion from around 5:10 to 6 AM, and then again from 8:15 to 9 PM, but when I do, I tend to spend more time working on my daily notecards - often in collaboration with my smartphone - than engaging in formal apophatic or cataphatic prayer. I am not too worried about it because there are strong undertones of the Ignatian examen in my notecard work, and I don't feel that I need to pray the same way in every season of my spiritual life. On the other hand, if I want to be in conformity with the Centering Prayer standard, two 20-minute sessions daily are key.

Recently, I tried keeping my smartphone out of the prayer area, and that didn't work too well. Part of the problem is that I don't wear a watch, and part of the problem is that I like to be able to look up my most pressing thoughts on Google. 

In terms of a Q4 2025 daily prayer goal, I'd like to do a slightly better job of integrating formal apophatic and cataphatic prayer back into my 5-6 AM and 8-9 PM time blocks. 

(Perhaps down the road in 2026 I will be stable and balanced enough in my morning and evening prayer routines to focus on my prayer habits during meals).

This week, I am interested to see what happens if I bring my Sunday morning question into my 5-6 AM and 8-9 PM time blocks. For example, I might commit to spend 1 minute reciting "What must I do to be saved? Send insight, heavenly Father" before ten minutes of silent contemplation and a few minutes of follow-up journaling on a notecard.

Something else I could do this week is bring in a bit of lectio divina with Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 16:14-18, and Luke 18:18-30. I've bookmarked all three passages in my Ignatius Catholic Study Bible and placed this Bible next to my meditation cushion for easy reference.

This is an important session. Maybe I need to modify my emergent horarium so that I have space to reflect and journal about my prayer life every Sunday evening. If I do, this will mean less time for Thoughts on Music.

End 7:53 PM.