Not a Vicious Circle, But a Glorious Spiral (The Relationship Between Mass and Personal Prayer)

There are many situations that I hear described as a "vicious circle."  Merriam-Webster has a pretty good definition, "a chain of events in which the response to one difficulty creates a new problem that aggravates the original difficulty."  Round and round it goes, the next round worse than the one before.

Mass and personal prayer on the other hand, are meant to act as a glorious, upward spiral.  Our participation in the Mass, our giving of ourselves to the Father along with Jesus and our reception of the Lord in Communion are meant to inspire our personal prayer:  We seek deeper union with the Lord in the course of our daily lives through speaking to Him and listening to Him in His written word.  We thank the Lord for the care He has taken of us and petition Him for the needs of the Church.  We meditate on the Good News in the Rosary and, with Mary, pray for the Holy Spirit to form our souls in Christ's likeness.  This of course disposes us for a deeper participation in the Sunday Eucharist ... which equips us for another week of personal prayer ... and round and round we go, nearer and nearer to our Lord.

It's a simple thought.  May it be found true of us.