About "planned" prayer...

I've done this myself and I've noticed others doing it too: "planned" prayer.

Here's what I mean:

Person A asks Person B to pray for him. Person B immediately, and with all good intentions, responds with something like:

"Oh! I'll remember you in my next Rosary" or

"Indeed, tomorrow at Mass I'll pray for you" or

"I'll remember you at Evening Prayer." Or some such.

There's nothing at all wrong with this except it's incredibly presumptuous!

To put it baldly, what happens if you...uh...don't make it to your next Rosary, Mass, Vespers, Angelus and/or so forth?

If someone requests your prayers, pray NOW!

Do, of course, plan to continue that prayer during your next whatever devotion you have in mind. That's fine...after all, we many of us arrange on specific dates for Masses prayed for loved ones.

But don't assume you're going to be there to take part.

When you're asked to pray for another, don't wait. Make your immediate prayer -- and it could be as short and as rich as "Lord, please bless this person" -- your immediate "yes."