Some ways of praying are more organized and done in public, such as the Catholic Eucharist, which is highly organized, and other prayer is informal and done privately. Saint Paul commands us to “pray continually,” which means our lives needs to be infused with prayer!

While the evidence is somewhat conficting, some scientific proof suggests that prayer is effective at making individuals more relaxed and aware. Also, a few research studies even have shown that intercessory prayer helps hospitalized patients have better outcomes post surgery. While Catholics do not need modern science to “prove” that prayer works, nonetheless, science is exploring what manner, if any, prayer can be verified by science.

The public prayer of the Church is often called liturgy, which comes from the Greek term meaning “the work of the people.” This kind of prayer is called as such because God’s people come together to offer their sacrifices of gratitude and praise to God, all together, in communion. Catholics are expected to gather for prayer every Sunday for Eucharist, and on every holy day of obligation. There are not that many days of obligation besides Sundays, but a few include Mary, Mother of God and the Assumption of Mary.

Some of the most popular types of Catholic prayers relate to the liturgical year. This is why there are a lot of prayers related to the Church seasons, such as Christmas, and Lent. Another standard one, one of the many traditional Catholic prayers, is the Our Father, also known as the Lord’s Prayer. This is the form of prayer that Jesus Chist himself gave us when his apostles asked him how to pray. This has been the most prayed prayer throughout the Church’s history, since it is often said during Catholic worship and in private.

One of the most popular Catholic prayers is the Hail Mary, which is addressed to The virgin Mary. In truth it is a prayer that petitions Mary to pray for us. Catholics and Orthodox petition the saints to pray for us the same way we ask a friend to pray for us, except we understand the saints are in heaven near to God.

Lastly, another valuable type of prayer is the Novena. It is a 9-day time period of prayer, in which an individual prays the same prayer for nine days straight. This symbolizes devout and continual prayer, and is based on the nine day period between the Ascension and Pentecost Sunday. Many Catholics will pray novenas to their most well-loved saints, or choose a novena based on a pressing need that they have (such as cure of an illness or difficult situation).

There are a variety of prayers that have aided many people, and these prayers are freely available on the Internet for all to enjoy!

The author suggests finding and looking for prayers online in order to deepen your relationship with Jesus.

The Lenten Season starts on Ash Wednesday and lasts for forty days. However, in the contemporary liturgical season, Lent actually becomes forty-four days, but Sundays don’t genuinely count as fast days. Lent ends during the Easter Vigil. Ideally, a pleasant Lent permits the person to be spiritually stronger and best able to celebrate Easter in the correct way.

Worship services throughout Lent are typically humble and sparse. Penance and lack of celebration are primary points. It begins with putting ashes on the forehead during Ash Wednesday. The Sunday services omit certain celebratory prayers and music such as the Gloria. Also, the morals prohibit saying alleluia. Unique lenten prayers are sometimes said. The color in Lent is purple, symbolizing both royalty and penance.

One traditional tradition throughout Lent is fasting. Fasting can come in various varieties. In the Catholic Church, adults ages 18-59 are allowed to consume one filled meal and two little dinners on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, both fast days. Fridays in Lent are abstinence days, which means not eating meat, although fish is allowed.

Sometimes individuals will give something additional up for Lent, such as sweets, coffee, or alcohol. This is a widespread custom, but is not mandated by any Christian church. Other individuals will genuinely try to do something positive instead, such as increasing volunteer efforts, going to church more frequently, or attempting to become more kind to acquaintances and family. After all, Lent is a season for complete spiritual transformation, not simply giving up something.

Another major discipline throughout Lent is prayer. The Church has several Lent prayers that it encourages individuals to pray, such as unique confessions of sin. The Penitential Psalms are widespread also. The rosary is prayed a lot throughout Lent and the person praying chooses the sorrowful mysteries. In most cases, the prayers are more somber, less joyful, and even more or less negative, focusing on the death and pain of Jesus.

The third traditional routine is almsgiving, which is giving to charity. This can include giving money to the poor directly, volunteering time, or even working for social justice in some capacity. Sometimes churches will organize food drives or go to soup kitchens during Lent to make sure they fulfill the obligation to give alms to the poor.

Although it’s not a traditional practice, many people find reading the Bible or the essays of the Saints to be beneficial for spiritual advancement throughout the Lenten season. Reading the Gospels or the prophets would certainly fit with the topic of the time. From the essays of the Saints, the amazing sermons of Leo the Great or the devotional writings of St. Therese would be helpful.

The writer writes frequently on Lent topics and Lenten Prayers also.

One manner to transform yourself is by buying a book on affirmations. An affirmation is a saying of intention about what you desire to be true. There are a few pertinent affirmations books out there, and I have read a book or two concerning them. However, most every affirmations book I have digested gives advice that is pretty much erroneous, and I will demonstrate why. Below I will describe how to select the best self help books possible. I am also going to address the subject matter of an affirmations book, since among all of topics nowadays, affirmations appear to be rather popular.

One. Choose a Book That Will Challenge You
Most individuals go online, or enter that bookstore, and right away seek out a book that already agrees with their manner of thinking. In other words, they select a book that seems to “fit” them. The problem is that it is their current way of thinking that has gotten them into their current mess. In other words, most individuals seek out books that at heart discourage change. I recommend choosing a book that you are sure will challenge you, instead of choosing one that merely reinforces your current belief structures.

Two. Choose a pertinent Affirmations Book
Most affirmations books give bad advice. They suggest penning an affirmation as if you have already received it, much like “I am rich”. The main problem is that your brain knows better, and has issues truly accepting them at a subconscious level. So while you might be repeating them like this, your brain isn’t rewiring. Happily there are some excellent books out there that get it right, but most don’t. So choose your affirmations book wisely!

Three. Check Out The Reviews For The Book
The web makes it simple for you to see what others think concerning a book or a book’s philosophy. A few reviews will be positive and very happy, and others will be negative and possibly even mean. I suggest going through both all the reviews and seeing if a book is up your alley. Bear in mind that some people may review a book negatively, but their negative reason might be why you might like the book. A particular reviewer might say a book is too short, but you might be seeking to read a more brief at the current moment. Definitely have a look at what other people are reviewing!

4. Make Sure You Finish The Book and Do What It Says
This might sound weird, but most individuals never finish the books they begin. A pertinent example is when I read about the supplement Green Tea a few decades ago, when it was trendy. I started using it, and it still works for me. Most people heard about it, read a few pages concerning it, and quit. They never followed through. You absolutely have to give the advice in the book enough time to truly work, and by golly, read the book itself. Granted, a few books might not be extremely good, and you might not want to finish these, but don’t neglect a book simply because you are lazy. Also, give a topic an opportunity. A lot of self-help techniques require some time and effort. Don’t think you can just read a book, try something once, and voila, it works. Allow every technique the period it requires.

If you follow these tips you will find the right self help books and that appropriate affirmations book. Do not be like most all people: find a great book and follow through with its ideas. Transform your life!

The author suggests using the advice given here when looking up and purchasing the right books.

Then, the inevitable happens! The dreadful December 26th. That’s the day when adults return to work, the Christmas music end, and the dude who was sharing universal love and peace only a few hours ago is now ready to bite your head off since he has so much work to catch up on. All that’s left is a collection of gifts that have lost their luster and a feeling wondering where all the mystery had gone.

A few years in the past when researching Christmas, I that people didn’t merely celebrate Christmas Day; they commemorated Christmas as a season. For the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day, they practiced Advent, a period of calm meditation and preparation to await the arrival of Jesus. Throughout Advent, there were no decorations, no lights, and few celebrations. The focus was about waiting because Jesus had not yet symbolically come.

Then, when December 24th arrived, the lights and trees were made ready. The relatives would go to midnight mass, which is a worship service, and when they returned, the celebration would start because Christmas Day, the arrival of Jesus, had come. They would put up the tree, sing the carols, turn on the lights, and feast with the relatives.

Thus, Christmas Day was just the dawning of Christmas as a period. The Twelve Days of Christmas actually do exist! They are the 12 days of celebration from Christmas Day (December 25th) throughout January 6th, the Christian holiday of Epiphany. The party continues, although less so than the 12 Days, throughout the Sunday after Epiphany, the Baptism of our Lord (Jesus). However, the celebrating isn’t quite finished! Tradition says that Christmas celebrations can continue throughout February 2nd, which is the feast day of the Purification of the Virgin Mary (or Candlemas)

What does this mean for us? It depends. Keeping Advent like a quieter, more contemplative stretch before Christmas can help us become less stressed out throughout the parties, the shopping, and the chaos. We can still like the lights, the trees, the music, and the parties, but they’re combined with some Advent contemplation.

Then, once Christmas Day arrives, I keep the celebratory spirit alive through the Baptism of Jesus. I leave up the tree, keep the lights on, and listen to Christmas songs on CD or mp3. This system permits me to not merely stay even keeled leading up to Christmas, but avoids the post-Christmas letdown that used to arrive as clockwork on December 26th.

Time since Christmas: I love Christmas and seeing the two people who still have decorations up made me a tad sentimental yesterday. However, I have moved on from Christmas; in fact, I’m looking forward to Lent. It’s one of the beauties of the entire Church year!

Failure of New Year’s resolution: I didn’t really make any formal resolution, except to continue working out and being healthy. I’ve kept to these.

Debt: I have a mortgage, student loan debt, and credit cards. But, I pay the cards off every month and I didn’t overspend at Christmas. As hard as it is to pay any bill, I’m ready.

Weather: I live in the snowbelt. I’m terribly sick of snow by now. This weekend we received 14 inches of snow, but I was out of town. So, I get to return to my house to some serious cold and shoveling. I am not terribly excited at the thought, but I can handle it.

So, a bad day? I’m not playing golf in 80 degree weather followed by a dinner with my family, but it’s ok!

I started by taking 250 mg. of Acetyl L-Carnitine the evening that it came. I immediately noticed greater mental clarity, sharper vision, and a generally elevated mood. I was able to sit down and focus enough to finish grading some papers I had been putting off for awhile. I’m not ADD by any means, but I still can be distracted. In spite of the greater focus, my sleep was lighter that night and I was somewhat restless. I figured taking it in the morning would help eliminate this, so the next morning I took 250 mg. on an empty stomach. I noticed the same benefits previously, with a little bit of restlessness thrown in. I was cruising along throughout the morning, but had a pretty big “low” in the afternoon. It came right as one of my classes was starting! Bad timing, I guess. I also experienced light sleep that night too, but this could’ve been connected to congestion, which I suffered from that day.

The next day, I modified my routine again by taking 125 mg. in the morning and 125 mg. in the late afternoon (all on an empty stomach). I still had an afternoon low and slept lightly to boot. More bad timing, I think. But, curiously, my workout that day was incredible. I got on the “virtual bike” and instead of my usual average of 220-230 watts over a 30 minute period, I was able to do 260 watts over the same period. This resulted in an additional 80 or so calories burned!

The next day, I cut my dosage to 65 mg. before breakfast and another 65 mg. or so before lunch. This removed the low and kept me going through school and my after school workout. So far, so good. During the weekend, I cut my dosage to 65 mg. one time before lunch. Once again, I noticed a nice workout boost, going from an average of 168 or so strides/minute on the elliptical machine to 175 or so strides/minute.

As it stands, I have had a great experience with Acetyl L-Carnitine, but only when I got the dosage correct. We all respond to supplements differently and even “recommended” doses can be wrong for different people. Here is the summary of my experiences:

Positive: Sharper vision, better mental clarity and more focus, huge workout boost (all at lower doses)

Negative: Restlessness, lighter/less sleep (at higher doses), some nausea (even at lower doses)

Bottom Line for Me: After I got the dosage correct, I noticed incredible benefits without the annoying side effects. Even today, my average watts on the bike were 250, which is incredible for 30 minutes after a full day of teaching. I’m definitely going to keep taking Acetyl L-Carnitine, especially on workdays and workout days. I plan on taking a break from the supplement some weekends and most holidays.

These are my experiences only. If you are interested in taking this or any supplement consult a doctor. Here is a good website on Acetyl L-Carnitine by Dr. Ray Sahelian.

David Garrard
LaDanian Tomlinson
Maurice Jones-Drew
Santonio Holmes
Chad Johnson
Patrick Crayton
Jeremy Shockey
The San Diego Chargers Defense
Nick Folk

These are the members of my championship fantasy football team. It was a fun year and a great and needed victory.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder,
and his name will be called
“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Wishing all readers of this blog a wonderful Christmas!

One final thought: if it’s Huckabee vs. Obama in November 2008, it will be the battle of the lightweights.