Am I being sincere enough while praying?

[ellam25]

Hello, I was just looking for some insight. I have a long commute almost everyday to work, and pray one rosary on the way there and back (so 2 rosaries a day, usually). Sometimes I find my mind wandering, or getting distracted just by general things like “Oh, they’re opening a new store, I wonder what it is?” Kind of distractions in my mind. When I am home and praying the rosary, I get distracted by things I need to do, it seems like when I am praying I suddenly remember it’s my grandma’s birthday, the dishes aren’t done, the rug looks dirty etc. I’m just wondering how you focus what you think about while praying? Sometimes I break up my roasary into parts during the day because I find that if I say a couple decades I am much more focused and less likely to let my mind wander after say 4 decades. Any thoughts/ suggestions?

 

[Shawnq]

Whenever I get distracted praying the rosary I close my eyes and picture the holy spirit descending like a dove. It seems to help me focus

 

[Trident_H]

I just think of those kinds of distraction as small talk. I mean who says that God and Mary always need things to be heavy? Maybe they’re just as interested in hearing about that new store opening too? But I mean if you’ve got an intention for that rosary. If you promised someone you’d pray it for them. Well then yeah. You’ve got to catch yourself. And double back on that. Whenever your mind blanks out. Because that’s what you promised to do.

Peace ellam.

-Trident

 

[Bonnie]

Sometimes I find my mind wandering, or getting distracted just by general things

Only sometimes? You’re lucky! I have a great deal of difficulty with distractions - anything can catch my attention. I just go back to where ever I lost the train of thought or prayer and continue - until the next distraction. It’s easier with prayers than during Mass. I hate it when the priest says something in his homily that sets me off down a rabbit trail. Too often I miss a good-sized chunk of the homily.

And don’t worry in the least about “sincerity.” Just remember, Linus is totally sincere in his belief about the Great Pumpkin - and totally wrong!

 

[AKDee]

Distractions happen. So long as they are involuntary, and you snap yourself out of it and focus back on the Rosary once you realize you’ve been distracted, there’s nothing wrong.

Maybe add a prayer to every Ave bead to try and stay focused, something like: “For those souls in Purgatory which are most abandoned…Hail Mary, full of Grace…” And do a different prayer for every bead to stay present.

 

[AttendeDomine]

I think that, sometimes, the things we get distracted by can be treated as little insights into our weaknesses and the trivial things these weaknesses lead us to be preoccupied with.

But, as I often say, the reason we get distracted during prayer is because prayer is hard work, and it’s a habit that needs to be formed. In order to form this habit, we need to consistently practice it well. In order to consistently practice it well, we need to both rely on grace, and simply continue to advance in the spiritual life. In order to advance in the spiritual life, the very first thing we need to do is to habitually stay out of venial sin. At that point — which really is just the beginning, and not the end, as so many of us think — we can really begin to purified of our imperfection, and THAT includes the many weaknesses I opened this post referencing.

Incidentally, so many persons talk about having suffering, and they seemingly interpret this suffering as a dark night of the soul. Not so. Things like that are way in the future of spiritual advancement, and most of us are stuck at the opening stage of avoiding venial sin.