Why Am I Distracted in Prayer? (A Lenten Question)

Ash Wednesday is here, and so, I began the discipline of learning to pray the Morning Prayers of the Divine Office. For the unacquainted, the Daily Office is a way of praying through the Psalms (and selected scriptures) at certain hours of the day, which is why it is sometimes called “The Liturgy of the Hours.”

As I worked my way through the Psalms, my mind wandered, fickle as it is. Some small phrase reminded me of Eliot’s poem “Ash Wednesday,” which of course reminded me of the references to Da...