We recite our community evening prayers together after supper at the dining table itself. For this we use one of the many abridged versions of the official evening prayer. Each of these versions is printed on a separate A4 size colour paper and laminated. Fr Sean calls them 'Plastic prayers!'
When I first came to Chertsey I found this practice, the timing and the content of the evening prayer, a bit odd. However over time I have begun to see the meaning and make the most of it rather than crib about the place and content of it. Even though the content is 'less', I did not observe any indication from the members of the community that we 'prayed less'!! The reverence and meaningful way we prayed helped me focus on the prayer rather than the duration and amount of words we used. It has helped me see that intent and intensity matter more than mere length and duration.
When I first came to Chertsey I found this practice, the timing and the content of the evening prayer, a bit odd. However over time I have begun to see the meaning and make the most of it rather than crib about the place and content of it. Even though the content is 'less', I did not observe any indication from the members of the community that we 'prayed less'!! The reverence and meaningful way we prayed helped me focus on the prayer rather than the duration and amount of words we used. It has helped me see that intent and intensity matter more than mere length and duration.
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