Tagged!

"I chose your blog because of the name." He got it right, too. Not everybody does. But a guy who identifies himself as "dadwithnoisykids" at Scorpion Stalking Duck" decided to "tag" me today, in the following manner.

My five favorite devotions are, more or less in order:

1. The Mass. Or "The Divine Liturgy." I use either term, as when it comes to participating as an acolyte, I prefer the Traditional Roman Rite of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, and when it comes to participating as a congregant (not only because there's less hulabaloo as to how), I prefer the Byzantine Rite of Ss John Chrysostom and Basil the Great.

2. The Rosary. All fifteen decades of it. This does include the "scriptural rosary" phrases accompanying each Ave, which I believe every good Catholic should one day commit to memory (including me, all in good time). This does NOT include the "luminous mysteries." Nothing wrong with them, but when you include them, it is no longer the Rosary. You will learn my irrefutable reason come this October. (CLUE: It would then be twenty decades, not fifteen. Go ahead, genius, count 'em.)

3. The Divine Office. From time to time, I've actually prayed it on a regular basis, usually the English translation of the reformed "Liturgy of the Hours." When I would visit the Anglican sisters in Catonsville, I joined them for all the hours. My goal is to eventually learn to use the traditional Benedictine "monastic diurnal" in Latin with English parallel translation, so I can learn Latin while I pray. A man can dream.

4. The Jesus Prayer. It is correctly prayed as a breathing exercise; first breathing in ("Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God ..."), then breathing out ("... have mercy on me, a sinner.") It is an excellent use of the rosary beads when you don't want to think too much. Yes, there are times in the spiritual life when you realize that thinking too much is what got you in the mess you're in.

5. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. In the Byzantine Rite, this is essentially Vespers with Communion, and it is used on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent. The normal posture for prayer in the East is standing, not kneeling. On that side of the tracks, they don't just kneel, they prostrate. By that I mean flat on the floor, people, three times during the "Prayer of Saint Ephraim." That's just for starters.

That's more or less it. Now, who to tag?

Lincoln Adams of The Habitation of Justice.
Paul Alexander (aka "Fender Splendor").
Philip Blosser, the Pertinacious Papist.
Sofia Guerra of Always Catholic.
Paul Mitchell of Thoughts of a Regular Guy
.