Forgetting to Remember

Have you ever realized that you went a whole day without thinking about God at all? Or, you go to Sunday Mass and have the same sort of realization — that you haven’t really prayed since the previous Sunday? 

We’re busy people. And sometimes, not thinking about God is really just that — we forget to think about Him. It doesn’t even cross our mind as something that we could (and should) do. 

To prevent this from happening again, here are two suggestions that will lift our minds to God no matter where we are or what we’re doing. 

First, set an alarm for 3 pm everyday. Why 3 pm? It’s the hour that Christ died. It’s the hour of mercy. And, when that alarm goes off, picture the image of Christ on the cross and offer up this prayer: “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”

Second, train yourself to raise your mind to God with invocations. An invocation is another short and simple prayer that we can say quickly and quietly throughout our day, no matter what activity we’re doing. It’s a way for us to unite our daily works and difficulties to Christ, raising our minds to God. The key to invocations is establishing a trigger. It could be anytime we start a new task at work or at home, or when we take on a job that we don’t want to do, such as any time we have to clean up after our kids (which can be a lot). Here are some prayers to use: “Heart of Jesus, all for love of you.” Or, “Lord, increase our faith.” Or, “Hail, O Holy Cross, our only hope.” Or, “Jesus, gentle and humble of heart, make my heart like yours.” 

The reality is, we’re not monks sitting in prayer all day. We’ve got jobs, kids, and families. But, that doesn’t mean that God can’t have a (constant) place in our lives.