The Ritual of Morning Coffee

“My strength returns to me with my cup of coffee and the reading of the psalms.” – Dorothy Day

If somebody asked me to sum up my daily spiritual practice, that above quote by the great social activist and writer Dorothy Day would work.

In this reflection I want to walk you through my morning rhythm, and invite you to adapt anything that matches your own rhythms. I am a coffee drinker, but of course you can substitute coffee with tea or something else.

I begin my mornings like this:

I wake up. I go to the bathroom. I drink a cup of water (gotta stay hydrated you know?). And then I engage in that ancient and important spiritual discipline known as coffee.

(Specifically: pour over, using the V60, with beans from Pallet Coffee Roasters…in case anybody wants to get me an early birthday present).

Then I sit with my coffee in hand in my favourite chair and begin by pausing in prayer, with silence. I do this for five minutes. Sometimes more.
And in those five minutes I’m not reading my Bible. I’m not verbally praying to God. There is just as much silence as possible in my exteriors, and more importantly, in my interiors. It’s about quieting my mind and stilling my heart. And this is very hard for me to do.

The goal is to simply rest in God’s presence trusting that God meets me in the silence and stillness. And if I get distracted, which happens every morning, I simply say a breath prayer like:

After five minutes of silence, then I rejoice in God by slowing reading and praying a psalm. This itself may take 10 minutes. And then I may read a short passage of the gospels or some other part of scripture. In this season I’m following our Tapestry Reading Plan, and slowly reading through 1 John again and again.

Then I ask God for things, either petitioning for my own needs or interceding for others.

Lastly I close by yielding myself to God, surrendering any sins, surrendering the day ahead. And of course all throughout this time of prayer I’m sipping my cup of coffee, savouring it, tasting and seeing that the coffee and God are good.

Since the start of 2021 however, I’ve also been closing my morning prayer with this liturgy from Every Moment Holy, a book of beautiful prayers and drawings for various occasions in life. The one I use is called “A Liturgy for the Ritual of Morning Coffee.” And if it’s helpful, I offer it to you so you can pray it each morning or adapt it for your own use.


I invite you to pray with me, slowly savouring each word:

Meet me, O Christ
in this stillness of morning.
Move me, O Spirit,
to quiet my heart.
Mend me, O Father,
from yesterday’s harms.

From the discords of yesterday,
resurrect my peace.
From the discouragement of yesterday,
resurrect my hope.
From the weariness of yesterday,
resurrect my strength.
From the doubts of yesterday,
resurrect my faith.
From the wounds of yesterday,
resurrect my love.

Let me enter this new day, aware of my need
and awake to your grace, O Lord.

Amen.