When I was in grammar school with the Brothers of the Christian Schools, there was the spiritual practice of pausing on the hour to the injunction:

Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God

For sixth graders it was a welcome relief from the intricacies of English grammar or mental arithmetic. But it also inculcated a habit that perdures — dotting the day with brief moments of recollection and remembering communion.The “Prayer over the People” that concludes the Liturgy for the First Sunday of Lent struck me as I prayed it last evening. It could well serve as a prayer we repeat at odd moments of the day: the pause that re-integrates and refreshes:

O Lord, may bountiful blessings come down upon your people,that hope may grow in tribulationvirtue be strengthened in temptationand eternal redemption be assured.Through Christ our Lord.