A call to prayer from the monastery’s bell-- prayerful disciplines for Lent

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monastery bell Cristian Bortes Manastirea Neamtului July 2008
What comes to mind when you hear the word “discipline?”

Punishment? Do you think of those times as a child when you were disciplined by your parents for doing something wrong?

Dull, repetitive actions such as practicing a musical instrument or working out to keep in shape? Perhaps even prayer, like reciting the rosary, feels like such a discipline, an endless repetition of Our Fathers and Hail Marys.

I was resistant at first to applying discipline to my spiritual life. How can a discipline be heartfelt? I remember watching “The Nun’s Story” with Audrey Hepburn and noticing the way she chafed at the bell ringing for prayer. ....

Lent offers a wonderful opportunity to establish a prayerful spiritual discipline. I would like to offer my regimen as an example. Click to continue.

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