Prayers to a Long Count of 10

Near the end of my 3-4 times daily nebulizer treatments, I take 10 deep breaths, exhaling each time with a humming sound to loosen the mucus in my chest. Maybe you do stretches or other exercises to long counts of 10 — and maybe you find them boring too. Maybe you even lose count like me.

I decided to keep better count and make the most of my time by referencing something biblical that would correspond to each number. My first version was simple and went something like this:

1. one God
2. two Testaments of the Bible
3. three divine persons in one God
4. four cardinal virtues
5. five books of the Torah
6. six days of creation
7. seventh day of rest
8. eight Beatitudes
9. nine months in the womb of the Virgin
10. ten Commandments

This was a good way to keep count and not get bored, but… I knew I could do more. I’m always looking for ways to improve my prayer life — sometimes I’m just looking for time to pray. So why not pray while I keep count? So I kept only some of the number significance, focusing on how I could keep count while contemplating on aspects of Scripture and theology in such a way that would mean something to my life and the desires of my heart. Eventually, I came to this, how I pray to a long count of 10:

1. Contemplating the oneness of God:

            “God, You are one, beautiful, and true — I love You.”

2. Contemplating the old and new Testaments of the Bible:

            “You reveal Yourself, giving Yourself to us, through Sacred Scripture — I thank You.”

3. Contemplating God’s Word made flesh:

“You became one of us, died on the cross for us, and rose from the dead to bring us to eternal life — I praise You.”

4. Contemplating The Holy Trinity:

“By Your grace, You draw us into Your communion of divine persons, Your communion of divine love — so draw me.”

5. Contemplating the Pentateuch:

            “Help me, O God, to honor my mother and father; help all peacemakers and peacekeepers.”

6. Contemplating Creation:

            “Help me to be a good steward of Your Creation and gifts; inspire all Christians to do the same.”

7. Contemplating the Sabbath:

            “You created us for the Sabbath rest, help me to truly worship; let the freedom of worship spread to all the oppressed; bless the people of Iran.”

8. Contemplating the Beatitudes:

            “Jesus, teach me to be meek and merciful, poor in spirit and pure of heart; please convert the hearts of the president, vice president, governors, judges, and legislators.”

9. Impregnated by the Holy Spirit:

            “Holy Spirit, help me to write and edit as God wants, and to be the person I’m created to be; help all artists and leaders.”

10. Contemplating the 10 Commandments:

            “Father, help me to walk in Your ways and to trust in You; save me, my family, & my country.”        

A postscript from my last post: Spiritual dryness is a difficult challenge to get through, sometimes mind- numbingly tedious. But we can get through it to a deeper relationship with God. It seems that the key to getting through is diligence: “the virtue that tells us to fulfill our duties in life, even if they get to be tiresome.”[i] The door seems to be opening, and I’m coming through, thanks be to God.

© 2026 Christina Chase

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Feature Photo by Crissy Jarvis on Unsplash

[i] https://www.catholic365.com/article/5796/the-catholic-virtues.html