Prayer Tweaks - 6/22/2026

I'm 9 months into this resurgence of my Christian, Catholic faith. My faith walk in this time hasn't been a straight line, necessarily. I've made adjustments along the way, most recently setting aside my Catechism until I finish my study of the Gospel of St. Mark. When I finish, I plan to finish the Catechism, which I'm about 2/3 through. Mark has 16 chapters, and I'm presently on Chapter 15, so in about a week, plus or minus, I ought to be finished with it. I've talked on this blog before about my method, so I'll skip over it this morning, except to mention one little tweak I've made.

It's taken me a little while to embrace the New Catholic Bible translation.

I'm finding the New Catholic Bible to be very readable, it had words of Jesus in red, which I love, and the footnotes are different from those in my other translations.

Using the New Catholic Bible isn't changing the rest of my Bible study routine, it's just adding one extra reading of each chapter, and new notes for me to review.

Before I get away from it, here's my new prayer/Bible study routine:

My morning prayers will center on the day's mass readings from the Catholic Lectionary from either my Roman Missal or Magnificat. Usually I use Magnificat, but now and then it's nice to be into the Missal. Thus, I'll be reading the Old Testament, Psalm, Epistle, and Gospel readings specified for use at Mass daily. I'll follow the readings with one decade of the Rosary and my expression of gratitude (I need to work on this) and my petitions/intentions.

Daily readings are really easy to do using Magnificat. The Missal is more work, but for me, something beautiful about finding and doing my readings from it.
During the day, at some point, I'll do my formal Bible study, which is anywhere from 10 minutes to 1/2 an hour. I've written a lot about it before, and won't repeat it in this post.

My evening will include inspired reading of some sort. Right now I reading a Brant Pitre book, but this will change as I finish them. I'm doing this as a substitute for computer, phone, and iPad time, which ae adversely affecting my sleep.

My book du jour, a Brant Pitre.
And lastly, I'll conclude each ay with a short reading and meditation from Thomas À Kempis's famous The Imitation of Christ.
I had to buy a second copy of The Imitation of Christ. The first was totally Shakespearian. I found it impossible. The more friendly translation, right, is lovely.
This book is one of the most widely used books in all of Catholicism, worldwide, after the Bible itself. It becomes a sort of examination of conscience, an excellent way to conclude my day.

Is it a lot? Yes, I know it is. I find myself thirsty for more. This is full immersion. It's probably not right for most, if any of you. Maybe one little piece is, though. If you have thoughts or questions, feel free to leave a comment.

Have a great day, friends.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.


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