Devotions Meme!

Yay, now for a bit of fun! ^_^ I got tagged by Mrs. Cathy for a Catholic Devotions Meme! Mahalo!

Name your five favorite Catholic Devotions!

1. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (not sure if this counts though)
Mom dragged us to daily noon Mass one year, and honestly, there were times when we would rather stay home and study rather than drop everything in the middle of the day. Well. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure how we even used to survive without dragging all our intentions with us and dropping everything at our Lord's feet! ('Course He doesn't whisk them away, but at least we are given renewed strength to carry on.)
Besides, who would willing miss out for a chance to see the most beautiful miracle in the world!?


2. Adoration
There's a story about the simplest, but most profound way of Adoration. I forget where it's from, but here it is: There once was an elderly man who went to Adoration everyday. The parish priest was happy to see him visit, of course, but a bit perplexed at the long hours the elderly man spent with our Lord. One day, the priest decided to ask the elderly man what his conversation with Jesus was like. Very childlike, the elderly man replied, "Oh, I don't say anything, Father. I just look at Him and He looks at me."
Jesus doesn't ask us for long essays, He already knows what's in our hearts. He just wants us to come to Him and spend time with Him. Sometimes, the best prayer we could offer is that of being with Him in loving silence.


3. The Rosary
"Be it done to me according to thy word." I don't suppose the young girl - who was probably just minding her own business until Gabriel appeared - understood everything that the angel told her. Did she really know the enormity of the situation?? Probably not. Even if she didn't, she accepted it anyway because she at least knew that she could trust in God. Mary is my Confirmation patron because of that. She reminds me that, even if you have NO IDEA what the Gabriel person is saying, you should still trust that God will bring you through.
To be honest, I have a hard time praying the Rosary. No joke...it takes me an hour sometimes. :( But when you're a young person with this humongously giant thing called the future in front of you and you have NO IDEA what's going to happen, turning to someone who was in a similar situation, taking her hand, and letting her walk with you to God makes the task seem at least a little more possible. "For nothing is impossible with God." ^_^


4. Divine Mercy Chaplet
The first time I ever heard the Chaplet was when my Aunt brought it to my Grandma's in the form of a CD. We didn't exactly know what it was, but we stuck it in the CD player anyway. Well, it started out very nicely, and it was sung by a couple of people. "For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world." Hm, great tune and interesting lyrics. But then the same thing played again. And again. And again. And...again. It went on ten times. Then a different tune played. (Something new!!) Then it reverted to the same old tune. At that time, we promptly turned it off. Impatient bunch of kids. :p
It took attending a Divine Mercy conference for us to find out what it was all about. Though, even now, I'm still not able to put into words why I like it so much. Yet it is such a beautiful, simple prayer with so much meaning and gravity.
Guess what? We love singing it now.

5. Liturgy of the Hours
This one is rather new.
Once again, when Mom decided to do Evening Prayers out of the Magnificat, we had to drag ourselves to do it. Or at least we kids did. It was loooong. Eventually, though, we became used to it, but that was my introduction to the Liturgy.
So how come it's #5? When CT and I visited the Daughters of St. Paul in Boston, we said Morning Prayers with the Sisters before Mass. I don't mind getting up early, but staying awake is the hard part. Particularly when the first thing you do in the morning is read "long" psalm prayers. (They seem long when you're really tired!) We did manage to stay awake, though, and found some of the prayers really helped when it came to preparing for Mass. When we left Boston, the first morning away I went around thinking that something was missing. You know...that miserable feeling that you forgot to do something, but don't remember what. So I checked the time. Oooh. That's what it was! Time for Morning Prayers!
Don't ask me why, but I really, really missed Morning Prayers. Fortunately, my family has a couple of editions, so I sneaked one off the shelf. I don't know why I've never noticed, but there's a psalm for every occasion. There's one for when you're happy, for when you're peaceful, for when you're angry, for when you're down, and for when you're in despair. Starting the day with these sets everything in a positive perspective. Most day have been go much smoother, particularly when you know that you've started them right.

Yups, that's five.
So now to tag...um....actually, I don't know who comes here anymore. Let's just say that if you, dear reader, haven't done it yet, consider yourself tagged. ^_^ What are your five favorite Catholic Devotions, and why?

And yes, I know I'm not doing a good job posting things more regularly. Sorry...but keep reminding me and someday there will be improvement! =)