Where to Pray?

I am still struggling with prayer over all still.  I am falling into a good prayer schedule, but I still know I can do better.

Moses climbed Mount Sinai to talk to God.  You don't have to climb a mountain to pray.  Prayer can be done anywhere and at any time. But what I am finding out is prayer is easier at certain places and times than others.  

So here is where I currently pray:

• In bed before I get out of bed I always try to do a morning prayer offering my day for Jesus and asking Mary to give me strength to get thru the day.  I also listen to the bible being read and a reflection on it.
• I try to pray one rosary in the morning using the daily mystery.  That might be driving, which is not a great place to pray because concentrating on the road is a built in distraction.
• In the afternoon I try to take some time to listen to a couple of daily reflections from other people on the Gospel, Saints, and the world in general.  Most of these are in front of the TV so I really don't count that as prayer time.
• I finish the night praying in bed.  I do another rosary, and try to reflect on the day, and thank God for all he did for me.

So bed is good, driving not as good, when it comes to where to pray there are other options.

But there are other places that I' like to use.  At church prayer difficult.  Sitting in the pews people are talking around you catching up on the week or whatever and its hard to concentrate on prayer.  If you find a quiet place its church is great.  If I want to pray in church I find kneeling under a statue works.  The best place is the Adoration Chapel.  Whether the Eucharist is exposed or in repose its accepted everyone is quiet in there concentrating on their prayer and their physical closeness to the Body of Christ.

I also find praying outside is good.  Whenever Mary has appeared either Lourdes or Fatima or the like, over the years it seems to be outside.  So maybe Mary like to be outside.  So sometimes I like to go for a walk and pray the rosary.  Or Ask for an intercession.  Or just meditate and try to her God outside. 

I do get a little jealous of people who have a prayer spot in their home.  Like a little chapel in a quiet place, free of distraction to sit (or kneel) and pray.  Just a small table with a crucifix or statue, candles and the bible tells people when you are there it is time for you to be with God.

I guess the lesson learned is Jesus is always listening,  no matter where you are.  Just try to find a place you can devote to prayer.  Realize that some places may lead to distraction, but try to keep in the moment and bring yourself back to prayer when you can,

No Time to Pray

Day to day life is busy.  We have to work, oversee our social network presence, maintain friendships, manage families, watch Yellowstone, eat and sleep-just to name a few.  So God must understand if we can't find time for prayer, right?

Newsflash-He doesn't.

There are 24 hours in a day; the same 24 hours that our forbearers were able to find enough time to forge relationships with God and become Saints.  If they can do it we can find time to spend with God as well.

So when can we pray?

• When we wake up, before we get out of bed, before we check our phone, we can say a quick morning prayer thanking Jesus for a night's sleep and asking for his guidance for the day.
• Most of us drive alone somewhere on a daily basis.  Why not use that time to pray?  Download a audio rosary and put that on the radio.  Dedicating your drive to a decade or two of the rosary and Mary can help make you arrive safely at your destination.
• Why have we gotten away from thanking God for our meals?  It seems so easy to spend 30 seconds to acknowledge God's role in providing us the food we need to survive.
• When going to sleep we should take a minute reflecting on the day.  We can look at what went well, what went poorly and how we can make tomorrow better.  We should thank god for his role in our day and ask him for a refreshing night of sleep.

If we look for free time and utilize those to spend time with God, I think we would all be surprised how much time we can spend in prayer.  And we might still have time to watch Yellowstone as well.

Ways to Pray-Lectio Divina

I struggle with prayer.  I just don't feel like I'm good at it.  I'm always trying to improve on everything I do, and there can be nothing more important to get good at than talking to God.

So over the next few days I am planning on reflecting on different ways to pray.

Today I am looking at Lectio Divina.  Its the practice of reading and contemplating on a scripture passage.  As I understand there are 4 steps.

1. Lectio-Read a passage.
2. Meditatio-Reflect and imagine being part of the passage.
3. Oratio-Respond to the passage by praising God, asking for grace or healing.
4. Comtemplatio-Contemplation on the passage trying to experience the text as a reality.

Seems simple enough.  I feel the Holy Spirit lives in the scripture.  So evoking a bible passage will help me use the Holy Spirit as a conduit to improving my prayer.

So I'm committing to 5 days of Lectio Divina.  Maybe it will work for me...maybe not.  But I know I can always have it in my prayer toolbox.