On Soccer, Catechesis, and an Apple Shortcut to help you pray
Hello, Friends!
For those readers who (1) want to pray more regularly, (2) want those more regular prayers to be rooted in the Book of Common Prayer, and (3) own an iPhone or other Apple device: I have a Shortcut for you. (More on that below.)
But first, stop me if you have heard this one before: a priest and his kids walk into a bar…
The English Premier League does not consult my own work, church, or family life when they schedule their full season of fixtures. (Rude, I know.) This means that I don’t get to watch every match at The Irishman, Tottenham’s official Dallas Spurs supporter’s pub.
But when I do, I often bring one or more of our kids along for the ride. They know many of the chants, could name most of the players, and have experienced some of the major highs and lows of the past few seasons.
When people ask why I regularly invite my children to a pub, I find myself reflecting on what it is that I am doing to them by bringing them along. Or by introducing them to Tottenham in the first place. (This question is perhaps especially valid for those pesky 6:30am Saturday kickoffs.)
Here is what I have realized: catechizing my children as Spurs supporters is basically parallel to their catechesis into the Christian way.
Both are a citizenship that leads to some momentary joys and many momentary sorrows.
For both, the true reward is mostly found on a distant shore. That is, “when the
SpursSaints go marching in.”Neither are solely achieved through reading a book. But both involve the ever-increasing embodiment of a story.
If I don’t embrace either of these myself, there is zero earthly reason for my children to do the same.
An Apple Shortcut to pray the Daily Office
In an ideal world, I pray the Daily Office every morning and evening with real books and by candlelight. In this world, I often find myself listening to Morning and Evening Prayer instead.
Over Christmas break I created this Shortcut that will load and play the correct audio Office depending on the time of day.
You can install this shortcut on your Home Screen or as a widget. Then, you simply press it when you have 15 minutes to pray, and let it do the rest.
You can edit or remove the “Prayer Intentions” popup as needed. I like to use this pop-up to bring folks to mind that I will pray for during the spontaneous prayer portion of each office.
The audio is from the folks at Forward Movement. It is faithfully updated with Scripture Readings for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer every single day—something sorely lacking in the dozens of versions of the audio Daily Office I have tried to date. The podcast does not always match my own personal Rite or Scripture translation preference—hearing someone say ”but I will make you people fishers” is comparable to hanging upside down while already experiencing heartburn—but these podcasts are consistently updated and available. For that I am very grateful!
Finally, kudos to Arkansas State Parks!
Well done, for rewarding our New Year’s hike! We tried a new trail at Devil’s Den State Park to kick off 2025, and were happy to receive these stickers in the mail as proof.
