WEDNESDAY, May 12 (Eve of Ascension) Rogation Day

Psalm 68:1-20. Blessed be the Lord day by day, the God of our salvation, who bears our burdens.

Deep in the traditions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims is the understanding of the necessity of the daily praise of God.

Muslims have never seen prayer as "asking." They know little of petitions in prayer, yet every Muslim is required to praise God five times a day, at dawn, at noon, in late afternoon, at sunset, and at night.

Jews understand this, also. The tradition of Judaism is to pray three times a day (as Jesus and the disciples did) at morning, noon, and evening.

As author Herman Wouk says, "A man wants to praise God for the marvels of life, and to ask to be spared its terrors if possible, and to give thanks for what he has in hand, in health, family, and work. He wants to, that is, if a sense will not leave him that God is there."

Into this tradition, Christians enter and remain, praising God daily. Daily morning and evening prayer is the invitation of the church to all her children to join in the ceaseless and daily praise of God. (1968)

PRAY for the Diocese of Coimbatore (South India)

Ps 119:97-120 * 68:1-20; Leviticus 26:27-42; Ephesians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:41-46

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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May 12, 2010 at 10:20 am

Written by Mary kier,

I find myself in deep gratitude for my many blessings. I knew my faith was starting and growing when I would thank God at any point of the day. I know of someone who has a watch set to ring at every hour so he can think of God with gratitude.

Editor, Forward Day by Day

May 12, 2010 at 3:12 pm

Written by Richard H Schmidt,

And I know of someone who works at a computer all day and has programmed it to send him an hourly prayer message. Also someone who moves the salt to a different place in the kitchen each day so that she will stop to pray when she looks for it (I would never do that!).

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May 12, 2010 at 3:32 pm

Written by Mike Patterson,

Oswald Chambers says we should avoid worshipping the habit of prayer, that is making the habit our god, rather than what prayer symbolizes. For example, if we say we can't do something right now because it's our time for prayer, we're actually saying it's our time for our habit of prayer. We should be so immersed in our prayer life that we practice it without realizing it. "The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous expression of our lives that we are no longer aware of them," Oswald says.

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May 12, 2010 at 5:30 pm

Written by Philip M. McGhee,

Actually,I have always found that the habit of prayer helps me stay a bit more organized in my daily duties and activities.

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May 12, 2010 at 8:24 pm

Written by Steve Doutt,

When I was in Southwest Asia I would respond to the adhan (call to prayer) by turning to the Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families in the Episcopal Book of Common prayer. It has 4 occasions - Morning, Noon, Last Light, Evening. Often I was busy and it felt like such a burden to start, although I was always refreshed and blessed. One day I read through the Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families at a normal pace with a stopwatch. It took exactly 10 minutes total to read through all 4 occasions.

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