Prioritizing Prayer During a Business Trip
“I make a Holy Hour each day in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. All my sisters of the Missionaries of Charity make a daily Holy Hour as well, because we find that through our daily Holy Hour our love for Jesus becomes more intimate, our love for each other more understanding, and our love for the poor more compassionate” (St. Teresa of Calcutta).
Last year, I started traveling more for work. It was a great year, professionally. I enjoyed meeting new people, and I found a lot of meaning and excitement in the work I was doing. But traveling can be chaotic and stressful, even under the best of circumstances. Simply being out of my routine is jarring for me. I get off rhythm and out of step with even the most basic of tasks.
So it’s probably not surprising that my prayer life can fall by the wayside. It’s easy to make excuses: I’m too tired for bedtime prayer; I have to get up too early for a morning rosary; I can’t pray before my meal when I’m surrounded by other businesspeople. But the truth is that none of these excuses is a reason to ignore what should be the most important relationship in my life.
Last week, as I packed my bag for my first business trip of 2020, I resolved to do more. While I am still a beginner pray-er, as a moderately experienced traveler who’s trying to be better, here are a few tips I can offer.
Pray in the in-between Times
I tried praying the rosary on the subway last year while I was in D.C. I wore a rosary bracelet, so it was logistically easy, but I found myself distracted. I could barely keep the mysteries straight in my head, let alone meditate on them.
I think the idea of praying on the subway is a good one, though, even if my own execution was not ideal. If you are able to, praying a rosary on a commute is a great way to use that otherwise wasted time. If you aren’t, try picking someone at each stop to say a Hail Mary for or going through your agenda for the day and asking the Holy Spirit to be with you each step of the way.
While you’re at your conference or meeting, there are bound to be breaks. Can you find a moment, whether it’s in a hallway or even a bathroom stall, to take a few breaths and talk to our Lord? Maybe you need courage for an upcoming presentation, or maybe you want to pray for someone you met over lunch. If you don’t have a specific intention, try the Jesus prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”). Just a moment of calm can refocus your mind and your heart on what matters.
Go to Mass
Last March, I was in D.C. for meetings on Ash Wednesday. While I knew Ash Wednesday was not a Holy Day of Obligation, I love going to Mass that day, so I decided to see if the meeting organizers were OK if I took a long lunch break to go to Mass. Fortunately, Ash Wednesday is a pretty visible day, even for non-Catholics, and they not only knew what I was talking about but were fine with my missing a bit of the meeting for Mass. I wound up at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (and took even longer than I’d planned, looking around the basilica and visiting the gift shop). It is a beautiful church that added to my experience of this holy day.
When I returned to the meeting, one of the other participants saw my ashes and told me, “I had forgotten today was Ash Wednesday! Thank you for the reminder; I think I’ll stop by Mass on my way home.” She shared her name with one of my favorite saints, and we chatted about that for a few minutes. You never know when your visible religious participation can turn into an evangelization opportunity or a chance to make a personal connection with someone.
You may not be able to miss whatever it is you’re in town for, but many churches have early morning or evening Masses. You may not be in town during a holy day of obligation or other special day, but would you still benefit from going to Mass on your trip? (Probably.) Take some time away from the hustle and bustle of travel, and go see our Lord. Maybe there’s even a perpetual adoration chapel near your hotel. (Try checking the directory at TheRealPresence.org.)
Keep Your Prayer Dates
My fiancé and I have been trying to pray a daily rosary together for several months now. We (try to) wake up early enough to FaceTime before work and pray together. It’s been a great way for us not only to work on our prayer habits but also to start the day with an “I love you.”
I will not pretend that we actually pray the rosary every day. There are mornings every week when one or both of us oversleeps. But we’re working on cultivating this habit of praying together every day, and I think it’s helping both our spiritual lives and our relationship.
One excuse we’re trying not to make for missing our rosary is travel. Last fall, I traveled to Chicago to cover a conference, and since we both live in North Carolina, we were in different time zones. It was only an hour, but I am very, very bad at remembering and managing time differences. To avoid either of us being late in the morning, we decided to switch our morning rosary to an evening rosary. When I returned to my hotel room each evening, we called each other on FaceTime, filled each other in on how our days went, and then prayed together before bed.
You may not have a regular prayer date with a friend or significant other, but maybe you do have a prayer routine. Don’t forget to bring your prayer journal or rosary with you on your trip, and put them on the nightstand in your hotel room so they’re a reminder for you every morning or evening. Even easier, use Laudate or another app or a rosary podcast (you’re not leaving your phone at home, right?). Keep your commitment to yourself and, more importantly, keep your date with Christ.
Prayer Before Meals: What to Do?
I always pause before I say grace when I’m with non-Catholics, especially if they’re strangers and especially if I’m in a business setting. Do I cross myself? Do I try to act like I’m not praying and just say a hasty “Bless us, oh Lord” in my head?
I haven’t always prayed before meals in public, and since I’ve developed the habit of doing so, this dilemma — public prayer — is one I’ve considered. I don’t want to seem high and mighty, like I think I’m better than everyone else for praying before I eat. On the other hand, it can be a little nerve-wracking being the only obvious Christian at the table.
“I haven’t found a good way to navigate saying grace in mixed groups, where it can feel like an implicit invitation to prayer,” writes author Leah Libresco. “I’ve tried making my prayer invisible, crossing myself under the table or in the kitchen, but I wind up in my own head, thinking mostly about whether anyone can see me and not at all about God.”
She does not offer a solution — and maybe there isn’t one. Maybe it depends on you, the people you’re with, and the context you’re in. And, after all, Jesus tells us, “When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you” (Matthew 6:6). So, maybe it’s not really necessary to even cross yourself or close your eyes when you’re praying while you’re with colleagues. Maybe a silent “thank you, Lord” is enough in that moment.
When it comes to prayer, I do not have all of the answers. I do not even have many of the answers. Still, maybe some of my own advice will resonate with you. On your next trip, try one or two of these tips to make sure Christ still comes first. Even if your business deal goes south or no one shows up to your conference workshop, at least you’ll come home having talked just a little more with our Lord than you did on your last trip.
Taryn Oesch is the managing editor of Catholic Women in Business, a contributing writer and assistant editor at FemCatholic.com, and a fertility educator in training. An active volunteer, Taryn is the board secretary and communications chair at The Power of the Dream, a head coach at Miracle League of the Triangle, and a volunteer at Birthchoice of Wake County. You can follow Taryn on Twitter; on Instagram; on Facebook; and on her blog, Everyday Roses.