And you shall so announce and preach His praise to all peoples that at every hour and when the bells are rung praise and thanks shall always be given to the Almighty God by all the people through the whole earth. ~Saint Francis, A Letter to All the Custodes
My husband gave me a smartwatch for Christmas a few years ago. I had not~too~subtly hinted for the gift, reasoning that having a smartwatch could help me to formally pray the Daily Offices of Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer, Evening Prayer and Compline. The plan was to set alarms on my watch, reminding me to stop whatever I was doing, open the app on my phone where the Daily Offices lived and pray.
It was a great idea—for someone living a different life than mine. The irregularities and demands of my multi~time zone and travel~heavy work life and the frequent interruptions that come with family life meant that stopping whatever I was doing to pray four times a day was not realistic. Instead, Morning Prayer or Compline became the offices I kept best—and usually only one or the other on any given day. Eventually, all the alarms were turned off, save one. Apparently, the alarm I had set for Noonday prayer is impenetrable. I am not even sure how or where it is programmed. But for the past four years, at 12:14 p.m. each day, a bell on my wrist rings. I wish I could say that I stop and pray each time the bell rings or that I announce and preach Christ’s praise, but the truth is most days, I do good to remember to pray, “Thank you, thank you,” before I hit the stop button. I am sure if I put more than thirty seconds of effort in, I could figure out how to turn the alarm off permanently. But where would the hope be in that?
For Reflection
What bells are frequent in your life? School bells? Camp bells? Alarms? Maybe you live in a place where church bells ring frequently. Could you begin to hear those bells as reminders to offer prayers of thanksgiving and praise? Is this something your whole community could practice together?
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