Kids off to school. Work call in the car. Protein shake on the go. Mid-afternoon crash calls for an energy drink or coffee. Coffee. Definitely coffee. New tasking coming down the pipeline. Call home on the drive. Meet family at the gym. Eat dinner at home. Tuck the kids in bed. Crawl into bed and turn out the light.
I did it again. I forgot to pray my novena.
I am 9 days into it and forgot for the second time in a row. So, realistically, I have only prayed on seven of the nine days. I love taking the time to pray with my wife, yet it would be more conducive to pray on my own. I would love to be on the same page with the Bible in a Year plan, but we both have external lives outside our home. Life is full of movies never finished, books just started, projects in limbo, and incomplete novenas
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I have started the Bible in a Year. I forgot about it a week in. I started the Catechism in a Year in an ambitious attempt to do both simultaneously. My wife and I started the Rosary in a Year podcast, too—hoping to expand our love, knowledge, and passion for the devotion. She started reading Scott Hahn’s book, Hail Holy Queen…, then I took over. The list goes on of all the good intentions, both my wife and I have attempted to become better people, more studious Catholics, more holy examples for our children. If I am going to be honest, my wife is better about keeping with the prayers and bible studies than I am. Worse about keeping up with the latest TV show series we started— speaking of which, does anyone know what’s happening in Ted Lasso?
It just seems that life throws so much at us, it’s hard to stay caught up on whatever process we are going through. If it can’t be done in one setting, it might as well not be done at all. At least, that’s how I feel about it. I still have boards outside in my garage that need to be used to frame our chicken coop addition.
Even with all the failures to try and stick with a plan and keep the momentum, especially a momentum together. We still try to pray together. We took on the Divine Mercy Novena. It’s nine days. It shouldn’t be that hard to build momentum together and become each other’s accountability partners, right?
Wrong.
We were so close to finishing the novena on the set date of April 12th, this year. We started out really strong out of the gate. Much like most gym memberships last at the beginning of the year. You know the ones, they show up on January 1st. They are there until January 14th at the least and February at the latest.
That’s how we were. Full of zeal to pray the novena. We would go to bed saying the novena just before closing our eyes, or we would take a few moments in the afternoon to pray together. That’s the key. We want to do this together and hold each other accountable as husband and wife.
Then… It’s not an instant force that slams you away from the prayer habit you are building. It is the gradual busyness that occurs over time. The kids need extra time; the wife is ready for bed earlier than usual; I am ready for bed before the kids are even in bed themselves. Sports. Friends. Other hobbies. At first, we were able to juggle it. Then, we had to start praying the novena on our own time.
Ok. It’s ok once or even twice every now and then. But then you miss your partner. They didn’t get a chance to pray it today, and you are now ahead, or vice versa. Next thing you know, it’s April 11th, and you are two days behind. The streak has been broken. It’s just not the same without your spouse praying next to you. Even if she falls asleep in the first decade, it’s still better to be praying it with her and for her than to pray it alone.
Two days. We were so close.
Despite the disappointment over our incomplete novena, I decided to pray the St. Joseph Novena nine days before May 1st. I have been feeling a pull toward St. Joseph since February of this year. Not sure why, but I feel I need St. Joseph’s intercession the most right now.
I had great intentions. I set the date on my calendar. Wrote it in black ink and put it on my iCal so I see it on my phone.
I started two days late.
Now, I did start. I am still getting through the novena today as I write. I am almost there. I actually have been able to keep up with the prayer, but I am not completing it on his Feast day.
So close. If there is ever a day that my name is brought forth in the Holy See for canonization… That would probably be the words out of the Holy Father’s mouth, “So close.” Just to stop me at Beatification.
Starting a project, a prayer, a bible study, or anything isn’t really the hardest part of the task. It’s getting across the finish line. We did end up finishing the Divine Mercy novena— two days later than we would have preferred. But we still did it. That’s what needs to be done with anything we put our hearts, minds, and souls into.
Saint Paul describes life like a race in his letter to the Corinthians. It’s not a mud run where everyone gets a medal or participation headband. I think about that as I see my iCal event for a novena I started two days late and chuckle a bit. We don’t come up short on tools to help make us holy. Apps, books, podcasts, devotions, pamphlets. I have downloaded most of them. We use these tools to make our prayer life more accessible. Then we forget to pray.
It is good to shut out the world and just go in silence for a while. Jesus did. He very often left everyone to be alone with God. Everyone is going to tell you to use this app or that one. This AI will help build your prayer; this book has the most prayers for the laity.
Pause. Breathe. Pray. You can’t win the race St. Paul speaks of if you don’t even put your foot on the start line.
If you start a novena, it’s ok if you drop the ball one day. Finish the novena as you remember. God isn’t keeping track of how many days you failed to pray a novena. But you know who is? The deceiver has been watching and is gleeful when you stop praying. He is excited when the habit you built becomes a forgotten part of your life.
Yet, the moment you pick up where you left off. You start praying. The Eternal Father welcomes you back with open arms, and Satan is left screaming at another loss. That’s the kind of win I want.
I don’t want the Pope to say “So close.” I want the Father to look at me and say, “Welcome home.”
If you’ve ever gone to bed realizing you forgot to pray, started a novena two days late, or have a Bible in a Year app you haven’t opened since February — you’re in the right place. These are the honest conversations about still figuring it out, still picking up where I left off. If that resonates with you, consider subscribing. It’s a simple way to stay in this race together.