I've also been blessed to discover the liturgy of the hours on my Laudate app. I started with some of the daytime prayers, then read the Catholics Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours and discovered the greater hours are Lauds, Compline and the daily Office. So I began focusing on those hours and rapidly found myself getting to the end of the day without having prayed any Hour!
Then I read in the Guide some common impediments, and it jumped out at me that I was making the critical error of pursuing the perfect at the expense of the good. The guide said that ideally, we would dedicate a period of silent contemplation to praying the Hour with attentive reverence but sometimes this isn't possible. If we skip because we don't have time to devote ourselves fully, we risk losing our habit.
That's exactly what I discovered was happening. So I am trying to pray badly rather than not pray. I read the Hour while making breakfast or sometimes I only get through one psalm. But I am hoping the act of opening the Word gets me closer to fully participating in the liturgy.
I haven't yet found a good rhythm for homeschool that balances the requirements of my sons education with his personal sense of responsibility. I am determined not to spend the whole day fighting with him. This surprisingly hard to do because he is always behind and has no desire to study. It is very difficult for me to let go but I've set 3:00 as the last hour I will help him. After that I am no longer his teacher.
Otherwise all is going well with kids and husband, home and family, and Parish ministries. Praise God!
St Elizabeth Ann Seton, St Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.
