Time with God: 5 Effective Ways to Structure Your Catholic Day
Written by catholicradioblog on August 30, 2025
Many Catholics agree that there is more to the spiritual life than spending time attending Mass on Sunday. However, it’s not always easy to figure out what to do or how to live the Faith in a way that achieves both spiritual growth and peace.
Here are five ideas for structuring your time as a Catholic:
1. Create a Catholic Rhythm to Your Days
Spontaneous prayer and talking to God throughout the day can help draw your heart to Him. But rote prayers can also help connect us to God and “bookend” our days. Try spending a little time adding one or more of these to your routine:
- Morning Offering and nightly Examen
- Angelus (at 6 am, noon, 6 pm)
- Prayers from a prayer book or novena
Some books to consider include:
2. Worship God and Honor Mary and the Saints through Catholic Dedicated Days
A spiritual focus can also be applied to each day of the week. Although some variations in tradition exist among Monday through Wednesday, they are:
Sunday: Christ’s Resurrection, Holy Trinity
Monday: The Holy Spirit (variation: Holy Souls or the Angels)
Tuesday: The Angels / Guardian Angel (variation: Holy Souls)
Wednesday: St. Joseph (variation: All Saints)
Thursday: The Blessed Sacrament
Friday: Christ’s Passion, His Sacred Heart (variation: Precious Blood)
Saturday: Blessed Mother Mary, her Immaculate Heart
3. Focus Your Time and Attention on the Catholic Devotions and Themes of Each Month
This idea hearkens back to the time when many people didn’t know how to read and a church’s stained-glass windows taught the Catholic faith through images. Catholic traditions arose to provide a focus for personal and communal prayer and feast days on the liturgical calendar:
January: The Holy Name of Jesus
February: The Holy Family
March: St. Joseph
April: The Blessed Sacrament
May: The Blessed Mother
June: The Sacred Heart of Jesus
July: The Precious Blood of Jesus
August: The Immaculate Heart of Mary
September: The Seven Sorrows of Mary / Our Lady of Sorrows
October: The Rosary
November: The Holy Souls in Purgatory
December: The Immaculate Conception
In addition to the monthly themes, other ideas for a monthly spiritual practice include:
4. Move through the Catholic Year with the Liturgical Calendar
The Catholic church has a calendar for moving through the year. Unlike the traditional Julian calendar, the liturgical year begins in November or December with the first Sunday of Advent.
The Liturgical calendar provides a way to cycle through important events in the life of Christ. Each year Catholics are called to deeper personal conversion through Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Easter, and more Ordinary Time.
Particular colors denote the Church seasons. These are utilized in the vestments of the priests as well as the altar cloth. There are also special readings in the lectionary.
The webpages below provide more information:
5. Put Your Catholic Faith into Action by Regularly Living the Works of Mercy
When we spend time connecting with God through prayer, He fills us up. The Holy Spirit then can set us on fire to minister to others with the love of Christ.
James 2:26 states, “faith without works is dead”. The service and ministry Catholics can engage in is not a scorecard to get into heaven, but rather an outpouring of what is in the heart.
The Works of Mercy are:
Corporal Works of Mercy Spiritual Works of Mercy
- Feed the hungry. 1. Admonish the sinner.
- Give drink to the thirsty. 2. Instruct the ignorant.
- Clothe the naked. 3. Counsel the doubtful.
- Shelter the homeless. 4. Comfort the sorrowful.
- Visit the sick. 5. Bear wrongs patiently.
- Visit the imprisoned. 6. Forgive all injuries.
- Bury the Dead 7. Pray for the living and the dead.
Looking for some ideas on how to apply these in your life? Check out these great articles:
To learn more about prayers to recite daily, dedicated days, monthly themes, and the liturgical year, consider these resources:
- Celebrate Every Wednesday, Especially First Wednesdays, in Honor of St. Joseph (National Catholic Register)
Don’t Forget to Add Time Listening to Catholic Radio to Your Spiritual Practices
Our programming on Catholic radio is designed to point to the Good News of Jesus Christ, that He came to save humanity from sin and death. Hosts regularly include discussion of devotional practices and prayer suggestions on their programs.
You can listen online to one of our five livestreams, find your local station, or download our free app for Apple and Android.
