One of the great strengths of the liturgical tradition which I don’t often write about here is the fact that we can draw from common worship – from the shared practices of the Church – in our own private prayers and devotions.

It may be that you want to study, read, or otherwise spend time with the Scriptures beyond the 4ish chapters of readings per day supplied by Morning and Evening Prayer. You could spend extra time on your own reading more of the Bible, perhaps drawing from other lectionaries or from the resources for a holy day. It may be that you want to keep praying more psalms besides the Office’s allotment, perhaps engaging in a weekly plan for praying the Psalms or at some other pace.

An idea that I wanted to describe today is the idea of observing special days for private devotion. The Church makes a big deal of Easter, Christmas, of the Epiphany and Pentecost, and a host of other holy days not to mention the Lord’s Day in general. You may well have family celebrations for some of these days too. But there may be other occasions that are relative minor in the Church’s grand scheme of things which are special or significant to you, and on your own (apart from the formal liturgy) you may want to spend a little extra time in worship.

For example, in my own private devotions there are a handful of commemorations that are significant to me for various reasons, and there are a couple devotional practices that are of special importance to me, so I like to put these together and match them up a bit.

First of all, there’s the praying of the psalms. I have come to cherish this ancient practice, and sometimes I just sit down with a psalter and read, pray, or even sing some psalms apart from the liturgy. So I figured why not, in the course of picking out a handful of days of special personal devotion, assign the Psalter across those occasions?

I also love reading the Bible in general have a particular affinity for the Old Testament. So how about grabbing some parts of the Bible to read on some of these special occasions too?

Now, for identifying some of those days for myself.

1. King Charles the Martyr (30 January) is a significant figure both in my study of history as well as my appreciation for the Anglican identity. His martyrdom was commemorated in the 1662 Prayer Book, so there’s already precedent for such a holy day. How about around that day I pray the first seventh the psalter (1-25) and read a book like Lamentations or Ecclesiastes?
2. Augustine of Canterbury (27 May) was the first Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the key renewers of Christianity in Britain. For that commemoration, I might want to go through the next seventh of the psalter (26-41) and read the pastoral epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus) to reflect on my own ministry.
3. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (20 August) is an important figure to a group of priests I’m in fellowship with. That’s a good opportunity to pray some psalms of desire (42-72) and read the Song of Songs, a book that was immensely special to Bernard. He also wrote a long hymn in love to Jesus which I might attempt to sing through.
4. The Nativity of Mary (8 September) is my ordination anniversary, so I have a fondness for that commemoration. That’s a good time to read the fourth seventh of the psalms (73-89) and read a book of the Bible that’s reflective of both Mary’s love and Mary’s knowledge of Jesus, like 1 John.
5. The Consecration of Samuel Seabury (14 November) and
6. Saint Aelfric (16 November) are right on each other’s doorsteps, so that’s a good opportunity to take a longer book and split it in half between them, such as The Wisdom of Solomon, chapters 1-9 for one day and 10-19 for the other. Psalms 90-106 and 107-119 would also be good matchups for those days, respectively.
7. Finally, the season of Advent one of my favorite times of year, including the subtle lead-up to it in the month of November. As the first Sunday in Advent finally arrives, that’s a good time to finish both the Psalter and the Bible, symbolically speaking, with psalms 120-150 and the book of Revelation.

There are other practices you might want to consider for highlighting your own special days of devotion. Times of silence, songs to sing, places to go, people to visit, even giving alms, showing hospitality, or providing service and aid to another… there are many ways that we can mark special days. Perhaps the anniversary of the death of a loved one will see you visiting his or her grave, or reaching out to a surviving relative. Perhaps for your baptismal birthday you may want to go to a weekday worship service at church. Perhaps you want to take up a special Lent devotional book or a pious Advent calendar to highlight a special time of the year. Perhaps on a day of sorrowful memory you might give yourself to fasting.

Sometimes it’s particularly meaningful to an individual to make personal days of memory, interest, or inspiration. Explore with possibilities – this is where we can make our own traditions!