Self-mortification may now be forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church, but that has never stopped me from self-flagellation for almost always being late for prayer.By being "late for prayer" I mean being late for formally convened morning (Matins), evening (Vespers), and night (Compline) prayer. I'm always on time for spontaneous utterances of gratitude, grief, or petition to God.
If you stay at a monastery where the Liturgy of the Hours (LoTH) is chanted, I'm the retreatant running -- silently, of course -- down the halls, through the cloister walk, and slipping into her seat midway through the first psalm. I've also replayed this scene in suburban churches and city cathedrals. My practice of being late for practice is interfaith as well as ecumenical. During the ashram years, for example, I was late for morning meditation and evening Aarti.
My seemingly chronic lateness for devotions even happens in the sanctified privacy of my hermitage. Now, thanks to twitter, I've stopped making myself oh-so-wrong for being oh-so-tardy for devotions. I joyfully participate in Prayer 2.0, which currently involves following TheUrbanAbbey. The Abbess posts morning and evening prayer in 140 character tweets.
Goofy? Not at all.
I seem more inclined to pay attention to what I'm praying when I have time to read, repeat, and digest it at my own pace. Something about this medium compels me to sit still long enough to contemplate, "Lord come to my assistance, make haste to help me," rather than hastening on to the next line in what might otherwise become rote prayer. Indeed, I've been jolted out of rote prayer because The Urban Abbey uses a variety of Anglican and Episcopal resources, including prayers from the exquisite New Zealand prayerbook.
I love how Prayer 2.0 frees me from the constraints of praying morning prayer at some dreadful hour -- sacred for some; ungodly for me. Meanwhile, having the call to prayer pop up on my computer monitor has become a powerful incentive to simply stop whatever I'm so busily doing and attend. It's the 21st century and, mea mongo culpa, the screen prompt has more impact than church bells, allowing me to pray in a very disciplined undisciplined way.
