[Campion]

Or do people get used to abstaining this or that during proscribed times decided upon by the Catholic hierarchy and do it as a rule without ever spending time daily in prayer and actually asking God's for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, as well as forgiveness for one's sins; daily Bible Study and meditation on the message that they have just read?

I think in every religion there are people who lose themselves in external observances and conforming themselves to various "rules" and then miss the essential inner core of things.

Any Catholic who doesn't take time to pray every day, though -- not just during Lent but all year -- just plain isn't doing it right. Any Catholic catechism or spiritual director worth his salt will make that abundantly clear.

[NYer]

Any Catholic who doesn't take time to pray every day, though -- not just during Lent but all year -- just plain isn't doing it right.

Here again, we are following the lead of our Lord and Savior who prayed to His Father for those who had been entrusted to Him. They, in turn, prayed for those entrusted to them down through these 2000 years. The forms of prayer are so beautiful and varied. For the past several months, I have been praying the Maronite Divine Office. Like the Jewish tradition it followed, it begins with the evening prayers of Ramsho and culminates with the morning prayers of Safro . These include the praying of Psalms and readings from Scripture.

It only takes 20 minutes to follow these beautiful prayers. They put a smile on my face in the morning and enfold me with their warmth in the evening.