Pray Unceasingly with a Cemetery Prayer Peg

"Pray without ceasing," St. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

In an effort to do just this, I began establishing "prayer pegs" with my children years ago as a way of building "Holy Habits" that flow naturally, seamlessly, and rhythmically within our day-to-day lives.

What's a Prayer Peg?

Just as one can peg laundry to a line - simply, without great ado, and yet with purposeful intent - one can attach blessing, praise, thanksgiving, petition, and intercession to specific daily activities in order to form intentional habits of unceasing prayer.

This, in essence, is what I call "prayer pegs".

A prayer peg is simply an act of praying a distinct form of prayer in connection with a particular regular activity.

A Prayer Peg for When We Pass a Cemetery

One prayer peg that my family has established is to pause all conversation and thought when passing a cemetery so that we can pray:

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace through your mercy. Amen.

Upon concluding this prayer, we sometimes add specific intentions for our own beloved dead or for the dearly departed of our friends. While, at other times, we simply return to whatever we were saying, thinking, or doing before we noticed we were passing a cemetery.

Either way, because we live around the corner from one cemetery and pass many others during our day-to-day travels, our purposeful prayer peg encourages us to regularly raise our minds and hearts to God while living out part of the seventh Spiritual Work of Mercy: praying for the dead.

Often multiple times within a single day, whether walking or driving, one of us will note a cemetery and deliberately begin to pray. Then, the rest of us will join in.

Praying when passing a cemetery has become a holy habit for our family that was easy to establish and continues to help us to respond to St. Paul's exhortation to pray without ceasing.

Do you pray a specific prayer when passing a cemetery? What prayer pegs work for you and yours at other times during your days?