Catholic spiritual life
What is a plan of life?
A plan of life (in Spanish, plan de vida) is a personal commitment to live a small, fixed set of spiritual practices every day, week, month, and year. Catholics — especially those formed in the spirituality of Opus Dei — use it to put order in their interior life and to grow in friendship with God in the middle of ordinary work.
Definition
A plan of life is the concrete space a Christian makes — usually with the help of a spiritual director — to make daily life a path of holiness. It typically includes daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly practices that protect prayer, the sacraments, formation, and small acts of love for God and neighbor.
These practices are sometimes called norms of piety (in Spanish, normas de piedad), because they are the structural norms that hold a soul's interior life together when emotions, schedule, and willpower fluctuate. The point is not to multiply devotions, but to be faithful to a small, sustainable set of them.
Origin: Saint Josemaría and the Opus Dei tradition
The expression plan of life is associated above all with Saint Josemaría Escrivá (1902–1975), founder of Opus Dei in Madrid on October 2, 1928. Although the underlying practices — mental prayer, examen, frequent confession, the rosary, spiritual reading — are ancient and shared across the Catholic Church, the plan of life for the faithful in the world is one of his clearest contributions to contemporary spirituality.
Saint Josemaría taught that a Christian who wants to take the interior life seriously cannot improvise. Across his three classic books — The Way, Furrow, and The Forge — he insists that without a plan of life there is no order, and without order it is very hard to grow. The plan is not a cage; it is the structure that lets daily friendship with God become a habit instead of an occasional impulse.
“Without a plan of life you will never have order.”
— Saint Josemaría Escrivá, The Way
The core elements of a plan of life
Most plans of life shaped in Opus Dei combine some version of the practices below. The list is descriptive, not prescriptive — a spiritual director helps you decide what to keep, what to add, and what is realistic for each person.
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Morning offering.
A short prayer at the start of the day that consecrates work, study, family, and rest to God. It anchors the day before the noise begins. -
Mental prayer.
Fifteen to thirty minutes of personal, silent conversation with Christ, usually with a Gospel passage or spiritual book in hand. The heart of the plan — everything else flows from here. -
Holy Mass and Eucharistic communion.
Daily Mass when possible, Sunday Mass always. Communion is the source and summit of the Christian life; the plan exists to bring you to the altar with a clean, focused heart. -
Spiritual reading.
Ten to fifteen minutes a day with the Gospels and a solid spiritual book — The Way, Furrow, The Forge, the Catechism, or the writings of the saints. Slow, attentive, prayerful. -
Holy Rosary.
The daily Marian anchor. Many lay faithful pray it on the commute, while walking, or with family at night. -
Examination of conscience.
Brief at noon, longer at night. A two-minute review of how the day went: where God was present, where he was missed. The examen turns experience into formation. -
Sacrament of confession.
Frequent confession — typically weekly or every two weeks — keeps the soul honest, humble, and free. -
Presence of God and aspirations.
Short interior phrases said throughout the day to keep the heart turned toward God in the middle of work. -
Spiritual direction.
A regular conversation with a priest or formator who knows you and helps you adjust the plan. The plan is not self-help; it is accompanied. -
Monthly recollection and annual retreat.
Once a month a longer time of prayer; once a year a few days of silence. Without these wider rhythms the daily plan slowly thins out.
How to start your own plan of life
Starting is simple. Sustaining requires honesty about your relationship with God.
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Start small.
Begin with three or four practices, not ten. A short plan you actually live beats a long plan you abandon in three weeks. -
Be specific.
Decide when — a fixed time and place. 'Fifteen minutes of mental prayer in the chapel on the way to work' beats 'I'll pray more.' -
Find a director.
Ask a priest or experienced layperson for spiritual direction. The plan is meant to be discussed, not invented in solitude. -
Grow slowly.
Add a practice every few months, not every week. The interior life is built in years, not sprints.
Plan of life vs rule of life
Religious orders — Benedictines, Carmelites, Jesuits — live by a rule (in Latin, regula): a binding, communal framework for monastic or apostolic life. A plan of life is the lay analogue: personal, flexible, not vowed, lived in the world. Both share the same goal — turning daily life into prayer — but the plan of life is shaped to ordinary work, marriage, family, and friendships, not to the cloister.
Who lives a plan of life?
Historically the practice grew out of Opus Dei, but it now has roots in many Catholic communities and movements:
- Members and cooperators of Opus Dei — numeraries, supernumeraries, associates, and cooperators
- Seminarians and candidates for the permanent diaconate
- Lay Catholics with a spiritual director who want a stable interior life in the middle of secular work
Frequently asked questions
Is a plan of life only for Opus Dei members?
No. The structured form comes from Opus Dei, but every layperson with a serious interior life ends up shaping a plan, even informally. Opus Dei made the structure explicit and teachable.
Do I need a spiritual director to start a plan of life?
It is strongly recommended. You can begin alone with three or four basic practices — Mass when possible, fifteen minutes of mental prayer, the rosary, a brief examen — but the plan is meant to mature in conversation with a priest or experienced layperson who knows you.
How long does a plan of life take each day?
A realistic lay plan takes 15 to 60 minutes a day spread across the day — morning offering, mental prayer, Mass, rosary, brief examens, spiritual reading. None of it is in one block. Most of it happens in commutes, breaks, and the first or last fifteen minutes of the day.
What is the difference between a plan of life and a rule of life?
A rule (in Latin, regula) is the formal, communal framework of a religious order. A plan of life is its lay analogue — personal, adaptable, lived in ordinary work and family life. Same goal, different shape.
Where does the term 'plan of life' come from?
From the Spanish plan de vida, the working term used by Saint Josemaría Escrivá since 1928. The English translation has stuck even outside Spanish-speaking circles.
If you want a tool to track your plan
Plan of Life — the app this site is about — was built to do exactly that fourth step: keep your daily plan visible, simple to mark off, and private to you. No ads, no tracking, no spiritual guilt-tripping. Free for 14 days; cancel anytime.