In what way Father, apart from the aforementioned Eucharist, do you care for your relationship with God?

Fr. Jan Kaczkowski

I value the chaplet of Divine Mercy.

Because . . . .
. . . because of the fact that I will need it a great deal, and besides that, I have experienced its effectiveness in the dying.

Effectiveness?
I am thinking of situations where someone is not yet able to die. The Chaplet, the Litany to Saint Joseph and the Litany to All Saints are then for me an obligatory set.

These traditional Catholic prayers are fitting. I recite them, sing them. Sometime driving the car and I say “Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on me and the whole world”. Some of us when at the traffic lights pick the nose, some fix their make-up, and I sing. I try to live the whole day in His presence. I use the ejaculation: “Lord, hear my prayer” – Domine, exaudi orationem meam. I greet the morning when I shave or brush my teeth, saying “Under Your protection”, and in the evening an examination of conscience, Chaplet of Divine Mercy together with the Eucharistic Litany. And also the breviary. To it I add two of my favourite prayers: “Soul of Christ” and “Accept, Lord, my total freedom”. I value and practice the lectio divina method.

You are, Father, an advocate of traditional prayer. Don’t you fancy the more “modern” forms?
It’s difficult to invent something new. How else and more perfectly to tell Him of your love and declare faithfulness? For a diocesan priest, work and service are prayer. Please remember, that the obligation of one’s state of life take precedence over religious obligations. Life is prayer. For me work is also prayer. If in the hospice chapel I lie prostrate and scourge myself, if a spend many hours in adoration, and on the other side of the wall the sick die without the sacraments, families are left without support and lack money for medicine and food, it would be wrong. I am not a monk. A similar problem is seen in the laity, in extraordinarily strong zeal in the life of the Church. Sometimes action, evangelisation, living some specific group or community that so engrosses them, that they neglect domestic obligations. This is a mistake. The traditional form of prayer is also the evening examination of conscience. I encourage boldly falling to the knees before God (but perhaps exhaustion brings us straight to bed), to analyse your day step by step, noting the moments of weakness, appreciating the good moments, and at the end gratitude for the good, sorrow for the bad, and still more, say an act of contrition. Such an examination of conscience acts as our convalescence, is our guarantee that the next day in the morning we get up straightened out. You can also try to do a morning “anticipated” examination of conscience, for example to prepare the mind for the coming day. Again, trepidation directs Divine providence. Moments of pleasure and ultimately success are then handed over to Him, so we do not to get snared in pride.