I recently finished reading Atomic Habits, the pop culture phenom beloved by productivity hackers in every industry. The premise of the book is simple: success or failure is built in the tiny, every day actions that we repeatedly take. If we string together a series of positive actions, we’ll see a bigger net result. The opposite is true for negative habits.

Cultivating a rich prayer life is the struggle of a lifetime for every Catholic. As broad and diverse as the life of the Church is, our common challenge is overcoming the tedium of daily prayer. There are plenty of resources that allow for great variety, but at the end of the day, you have to set aside time for prayer, and then you actually have to do it.

The Rosary is undoubtedly a powerful meditation, with benefits both spiritual and physical. Stopping in the middle of the day for a 15-minute break of silence and peace can recharge your batteries, refocus your mind, and propel you through the rest of the day. It’s a good suggestion, but it’s not required, and the vast majority of us don’t do it.

I just finished a 54-day streak of praying the Rosary every day. It was not easy, I had to plan my prayer time, and I had to stick to it. But I was successful because, as James Clear wrote in the Atomic Habits book, I had the stamina to show up every day and work through the boredom.

So much of the battle for our souls happens in the context of our fidelity to prayer, of our submission to the reality that we cannot make it through life spiritually weak. If we want to build a strong habit of prayer, we have to commit and sustain our good works, especially on days when it’s not easy.

Tags: Spirituality