For example, if you say a Pater + Ave while you wash your hands and a Gloria while you dry them, you have washed for the recommended amount of time AND (if you aim your prayers at "the poor souls in Purgatory") committed (heh heh) a spiritual work of mercy! Is that a deal or what?
But the connection with Lent is this. Fasting is good not only for the health and the clothing budget and all, but, at least in my case, when, as happened last night, the smell of pizza wafts through the air and my mouth begins to water (do you think I have enough commas in this sentence?), you can remember to say a Pater + Ave + Gloria or anything else you might want to say to God. And you can add a prayer for the hungry and for guidance about what YOU should DO about hunger in the world.
And if you are sitting around chewing on your injuries like a dog chewing on a bone and committing major sins of anger, you can calm yourself down by sending up a P + A + G and then follow them with a prayer for the person you're angry at AND an act of contrition for being so unwilling to rejoice in the Love God has for that person.
God is gracious and out of the sow's ear of our distracted prayers He makes a silk purse of holiness.
What good ideas!
I haven’t ever heard that combination before. Good suggestion, sir!
I have taken to just taking to saying a Hail Mary for any person who might cross my path with whom I have might be having a difficult time, or while driving and being stopped by a train, I say a decade of the Rosary.
Another thing, whenever I hear a siren, I completely stop what I am doing, even if it is a conversation, and say a silent Hail Mary for the people the siren is going to.