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:
- one God
- two Testaments of the Bible
- three divine persons in one God
- four cardinal virtues
- five books of the Torah
- six days of creation
- seventh day of rest
- eight Beatitudes
- nine months in the womb of the Virgin
- 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
Feature Photo by Crissy Jarvis on Unsplash
[i] https://www.catholic365.com/article/5796/the-catholic-virtues.html
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Christina Chase View All
Although crippled by disease, I'm fully alive in love. I write about the terrible beauty and sacred wonder of life, while living with physical disability and severe dependency. A revert to the Catholic faith through atheism, I'm not afraid to ask life's big questions. I explore what it means to be fully human through my weekly blog and have written a book: It's Good to Be Here, published by Sophia Institute Press.
Christina Chase 
The Christmas song The 12 Days of Christmas has nothing on you. Haha. Love this idea! Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
We’ll talk soon.
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Very nice in how you chose to reference Biblical stuff. It reminded me of how the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was written during the time of the Catholic persecution by Queen Elizabeth. The Jesuits (you probably already know this) wrote it and for Catholics it had secret “references” to their faith. It was often used to teach the kids their catechism. In case you weren’t familiar with this, here it is (and note that you have many similarities). Maybe you are a Jesuit at heart. 🙂
1st Day: My True Love is Almighty God – after all we all will one day see him face to face hopefully The Partridge is Jesus Christ and the Pear Tree is the Cross which redeemed us 2nd Day Two Turtle Doves represent the Old and New Testament 3rd Day Three French Hens are the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love; and the Blessed Trinity and also the 3 Gifts of the Magi 4th Day The Four Calling Birds are the 4 Gospels and the 4 major prophets of the Old Testament 5th Day Five Golden Rings are the first Five Books of the OT (the Pentateuch) and the Rings are symbols of God’s Eternal Nature and his Loving Faithfulness which never ends 6th Day Six Geese a Laying are the 6 Days of Creation 7th Day Seven Swans are Swimming symbolize the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit; the 7 Sacraments; the 7 Spiritual and 7 Corporal Works of Mercy; the 7 Capital Sins and the 7th Day, Sunday which belongs to God. 8th Day Maids are Milking are the 8 Beatitudes 9th Day Nine Ladies Dancing are the 9 Choirs of Angels 10th Day Ten Lords are Leaping are the 10 Commandments 11th Day Eleven Pipers Piping are the 11 Faithful Apostles 12th Day Twelve Drummers Drumming are the 12 major points of the Apostles Creed; the 12 Original APostles, the Twelve Minor Prophets of the OT; The Twelve Tribes of Israel and the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit
Anyhow, I always thought that was pretty cool. I loved doing this with my kids. I am now going to ask them when I see them if they remember this and if they want to share it with their own kids.
God bless and always love to read your stuff, Barbara
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