Hail Mary hacks cut through life’s knots

Remembrance Day is a powerful time for many, one where we are called on to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. As a long-time volunteer at Remembrance events, one of the minor, and comical, issues I have dealt with is the disappearing poppy.

For many are the tricks of the crafty.
-- Sirach 11: 29

Remembrance Day is a powerful time for many, one where we are called on to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. As a long-time volunteer at Remembrance events, one of the minor, and comical, issues I have dealt with is the disappearing poppy. I’m sure many of us share the experience of losing the lapel poppy several times during the early weeks of November. This year, however, a colleague showed me a clever poppy-saving hack. If you run the pin through the bottom petal of the poppy when you affix it, the poppy will never drop away, although it may be somewhat difficult to remove. 

The situation reminded me of the many clever life hacks, as they’re called, that I have been reading about over the last year: clever solutions to everyday situations that are as simple as they are brilliant. One clever idea that travellers have used, for example, to identify their bags in a sea of luggage is to tie brightly coloured ribbons to the handle of their cases. Sure enough, when the bag appears on the conveyor belt it stands out quickly. One hack that I’ve used in smelly hotel rooms is to put an anti-static dryer sheet over the air-conditioner vent. Yes, it means planning ahead, but it’s amazing how quickly the atmosphere improves. And keeping that same laundry anti-static sheet in my baggage keeps everything smelling fresh.

Speaking of dream hacks, a friend admitted that she kept sleeping through her early morning alarm until she put her mobile phone in a glass, which amplified the sound of the alarm in the morning, and also forced her to get up to turn it off. There’s also the runaway alarm clock. It is on wheels and shoots off the bedside table, forcing you to chase it. 

Once I began thinking about life hacks, I knew there must be similar ideas for how we can improve our mental and physical health, and of course, how to build our spiritual well-being. I found hundreds of web sites that offered tips, some more dubious than others, on how to get along with strangers (mirror their movements!), recharge our human batteries (spend time in nature and taking the time to rest), and even keep one’s temper in check (count silently backwards from 10 to one in heated moments). 

On the spiritual front, I read with interest the work of Patti Maguire-Armstrong who speaks about Holy Hacks, simple ways to help us keep our faith life balanced and our spiritual needs met. Among the tips she offers is a way to build humility by undertaking helpful deeds in secret. Jesuit writer Fr. David Meconi offers seven spiritual life hacks based on Ignatian thought and reminds us that “part of our understanding of what a spiritual life hack might entail is not getting out of the world but entering into the world with a certain ability to order our loves, and a certain ability to understand that everything we do leads us either closer to or further from the wholeness for which we’ve been made.”

All of this, of course, is important to a well-rounded life, especially in an age where division and stress are abundant, and where uncertainty prevails. For me, the most life-changing life hack I’ve adopted is a daily rosary. No matter the situation, no matter the place, I have made time in my day to pray the rosary. Rain or shine, come what may, I have been able to find 30 minutes to decompress, pray for those I love, and ask guidance through the gift of the rosary. In doing so I have found that, like meditation, prayer helps to ground me in my day, ease the stresses of the hour, and at times give clarity when confusion reigns. Always, though, I feel more at peace, and more centred, led by the Hail Marys through the decades of the Joyful, the Sorrowful, the Luminous and the Glorious Mysteries. 

As Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “The power of the rosary is beyond description.” St Pope John Paul II said it even more succinctly: “The rosary is my favourite prayer.” While October is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, and November the month of Remembrance, every day is a rosary day — and there’s no better spiritual hack than that.

(Turcotte is President and Vice-Chancellor at St. Mark’s and Corpus Christi College, University of British Columbia.)