I had been having trouble over the last year with consistency in praying the Liturgy of the Hours. As a Lay Dominican, I have promised to pray Lauds (Morning Prayer) and Vespers (Evening Prayer) every day. And while it’s not a promised made under pain of sin, I know that spiritual sloth can be a problem.

This year, I made a Lenten promise to pray the Liturgy of the Hours with consistency – and to do so out loud and with proper postures of standing and bowing when called for. I had fallen into a bad habit of sitting and reading the prayers silently rather than aloud, but for Lent, I would once again stand, sing, bow, pray. I wouldn’t skimp on it. This alone did wonders for my spiritual life! I found my love of my Lay Dominican vocation returning – it felt less like it was some kind of imposition or interruption of what I wanted to do.

When we realized that my husband would be working from home for the foreseeable future and our daughter would be having her college classes delivered remotely after an extended spring break, we made the family decision to try to pray Lauds and Vespers together. And this has not only helped my spiritual life, but it’s helped with my anxiety that has been growing since the COVID-19 pandemic starting hitting the US harder. …

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Text and images ©2020 Christine Johnson