Does anyone actually Pray without Ceasing?

[thistle]

Right…you are thinking of only one meaning of the word “to pray.” This is where protestants freak out that we “pray” to Mary.

Shin and Katmtogo are right on. This is not forget the world and just say a hundred rosaries a day prayer. This is a let everything that I am give glory to God kind of prayer.
To grasp this idea I would suggest three resources:

1. The Way of a Pilgrim (Which introduces the prayer of the heart of the Eastern Orthodox) it’s a very simple read

2, A FIre Within: Prayer Primer by Fr. Thomas Dubay
ignatius.com/ViewProduct.aspx?SID=1&Product_ID=392&AFID=12

1. Interior Castles by St. Teresa of Avila

video.google.com/videosearch?q=the+interior+castle&www_google_domain=www.google.com&hl=en&emb=0&aq=0m&oq=interior+castle#q=the+interior+castle&hl=en&emb=0&qvid=the+interior+castle&vid=3136257522124234014&view=2

You are not praying while you are asleep so you cannot pray every second of the day!
When you watch a movie you are not praying every second of the movie!
When you are at work you are not praying every second while you are working!
etc etc etc

 

[Bob_Crowley]

Hello!
Does any one really pray without ceasing? How do you do it? I know we are told to, but I don’t know how. I enjoy Daily Mass, the Rosary,etc. should I just keep with my more formal prayers? I often repeat short prayers, like the Miraculous Medal, “Oh, Mary, concieved without sin, pray for those who have recourse to thee.” I am sure whole hours go by without my prayer, like at the Grocery Store, etc. I would be very grateful if some one could explain how Prayer without Ceasing is done.

Leeray

I think this quote is Pauline. He’s essentially writing to a church, not to an individual.

Now there are some individuals who spend an enormous amount of time praying, in all major traditons. However the role of the contemplative orders is that collectively they “Pray without ceasing”.

I remember my old Protestant pastor saying that Protestants while didn’t go in for the contemplative orders much, he really thought that in reality they underpinned the church. Within these orders, collectively gathered all over the world, prayer goes up 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long.

In that respect they underpin the church with ceaseless prayer. I think our Protestant mates would get a shock if they realised just how much prayer goes up to God from these orders, and just how much they probably owe them.

 

[graceandglory]

You are not praying while you are asleep so you cannot pray every second of the day!
When you watch a movie you are not praying every second of the movie!
When you are at work you are not praying every second while you are working!
etc etc etc

Who is your argument with, thistle? me, St. Teresa of Avila, or scripture?

Praying unceasingly is the transformational union. That is our goal. .

I just explained that you are limited in your understanding of the word PRAY because you are only thinking of one definition of prayer, mental, verbal prayer. Did you not watch the short link I provided that explained briefly that mental verbal prayer is NOT what the saints are talking about when they “pray unceasingly?”

 

[graceandglory]

You are not praying while you are asleep so you cannot pray every second of the day!
When you watch a movie you are not praying every second of the movie!
When you are at work you are not praying every second while you are working!
etc etc etc

**
CCC 2710 *****The choice of the time and duration of the prayer arises from a determined will, revealing the secrets of the heart. One does not undertake contemplative prayer only when one has the time: one makes time for the Lord, with the firm determination not to give up, no matter what trials and dryness one may encounter. One cannot always meditate, but one can always enter into inner prayer, independently of the conditions of health, work, or emotional state. The heart is the place of this quest and encounter, in poverty ant in faith. ***

CCC 2710 above says that prayer is an act of the will. Some people don’t watch movies because they prefer to spend time with the Lord. St. Paul says it’s easier if you are not married. Different personalities will have more or less difficulty with praying unceasingly.

1 Corinthians 7:32-34
I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.

 

[Shin]

Yes there are many people who realize they have to give up a good deal to proceed in prayer. While it is **always **possible to pray some activities make it harder than other activities.

And we should not assume we will gain God’s special graces without sacrifices. It takes work also to change habits and ways of thought and attention.

 

[GilChrist77]

One of the ways I try to do this is to repeat the Holy Name of Jesus and the Most Blessed Name of Mary over and over again with each breath. The Holy Name of Jesus is the most powerful type of prayer ever! Plus it’s simple, short and easy so you CAN do it no matter what else you are doing.

JMJ+
~Betsy

Totus tuus Maria!

 

[John7]

That’s ridiculous and not true. So we are not supposed to sleep or eat or have a job or a family or leisure time? Praying non-stop 24 hours a day according to you would mean no life at all.
Even the religious and other people who spend their life in prayer do not pray NON-STOP 24 hours a day. That is physically impossible.

I agree. plus
WHO HERE PRAYS ON THE POTTY ?
cmon fess up…who prays a few Hail Mary’s while on the potty ?

To me that just ain’t the place…and is dishonoring…but that’s just me.

 

[Ultima_Ratio]

You don’t need to be a religious to do this. It is not easy but with practice one can get better. I suggest a book by Brother Lawrence titled something like “Practice the Presece of God”. Small book but great stuff. Frequenting the sacraments will give you many graces as well. God bless.

Practicing the Presence of God is the trick. And the book you mentioned is available for free online. Here’s the link.

 

[Shin]

I agree. plus
WHO HERE PRAYS ON THE POTTY ?
cmon fess up…who prays a few Hail Mary’s while on the potty ?

To me that just ain’t the place…and is dishonoring…but that’s just me.

This is a bit TMI, but…

If you’re on the potty and not thinking or focusing on the potty at all, it’s just a mechanical act… then there would be nothing wrong with the matter.

 

[graceandglory]

I agree. plus
WHO HERE PRAYS ON THE POTTY ?
cmon fess up…who prays a few Hail Mary’s while on the potty ?

To me that just ain’t the place…and is dishonoring…but that’s just me.

When I was little I was often very sick. I grew close to God as a little girl while in the bathroom. I remember asking Him to take my pain away and making deals that I would go to daily Mass if He would make me better…

When my children were little and sick with vomiting or diarrhea, I would come and read the Psalms to them and pray with them, and it would make them feel better.

I don’t think there is any time that is dishonoring to pray. Except while sinning…But then we know that when we “regard iniquity in our hearts” the Lord will not hear us.

 

[Hlafdige]

I agree. plus
WHO HERE PRAYS ON THE POTTY ?
cmon fess up…who prays a few Hail Mary’s while on the potty ?

To me that just ain’t the place…and is dishonoring…but that’s just me.

The story is told that St. Teresa of Avila was praying while on the can, when the thought occurred to her that this practice was dishonouring. She judged the thought to be from the devil and told him: „What comes out of my mouth is for God; what comes out the other end is for you!“

In the Conferences of Cassian, there is a passage where one of the wise elders tells his disciples to pray constantly “O Lord make speed to help me” even while attending to the needs of nature.

 

[argio]

The best book I read concerning this was The Way of the Pilgrim. The “pilgrim” was encouraged by his spiritual adviser(s) to repeat the penitent’s prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner” over and over, such that he eventually was praying it whenever breathing! Definitely worth a try…

 

[graceandglory]

The best book I read concerning this was The Way of the Pilgrim. The “pilgrim” was encouraged by his spiritual adviser(s) to repeat the penitent’s prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner” over and over, such that he eventually was praying it whenever breathing! Definitely worth a try…

I, too suggested that one. It’s a classic. And an easy read.

 

[DavidMark]

i confess i pray inwardly on the potty. He made me this way, and i still need to talk.
i also admit to shock when i discover that others have been reading Scripture there.
My little wife’s only time of reading seems to be the moment there she reaches for Daily Guideposts. It’s worked for her for 30 thirty years; but i would want to approach with “clean hands and a pure heart.” A heart that is constantly yearning to draw closer to God.

This post has been important to me to summarize and refresh my disciplines. We’ve mentioned practicing the presence of God continually, reciting memorized prayers frequently and “morning offerings” matins, or other prayers for hours; that work is worship if it is upright, such as preparing food for others (as Brother Lawrence did) and fellowship in love with all is Christ-like --to see God reflected in them, even if they themselves don’t.

To “gird up the loins,” or keep oneself well-guarded, when going to sleep, and realize that the human spirit can discover things more easily, when it has stripped itself of attachment to the inert body, and run without feet, or even flown, heard without ears, seen without eyes, because these are all asleep. This is the last part of the prayer mentioned earlier:
By Thy might!
I ask not, whether sleeping or waking,
but that which Thou dost desire.
I am Thy servant and in Thy hands.
Do Thou graciously aid me to do
what will shed forth the fragrance of Thy good pleasure.
This, truly, is my hope and the hope of them that
enjoy near access to Thee.
Praised be Thou, O Lord of the worlds!

 

[LilyM]

What’s the problem with praying on the potty?

The mind doesn’t cease working when the lid of the toilet goes up. People can read and think of other things than their number ones or twos while on the toilet (in fact some of us do our best thinking on the ‘throne’ )

And if I can, as I often do, think of my shopping list, or my meeting I’m going to be having at work, or the party I’m going to go to, while on the can, then I can, and do sometimes, certainly think of God and direct prayers to Him.

 

[DavidMark]

All of this is what God has been teaching us since the beginning:

6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6:6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
6:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
6:8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

 

[Ora_et_Labora_1]

I, too suggested that one. It’s a classic. And an easy read.

Uhm, correct me if I’m wrong, but the book is not as “easy” as it seems. Sure, it’s not full of over-you-head theological ideas, but paradoxically its shear simplicity reveals that it is not a book easily understood. My 2 cents.

 

[graceandglory]

Uhm, correct me if I’m wrong, but the book is not as “easy” as it seems. Sure, it’s not full of over-you-head theological ideas, but paradoxically its shear simplicity reveals that it is not a book easily understood. My 2 cents.

It changed my life greatly, and started my conversion process.

Maybe it’s a case of, “For him who has ears to hear…” ???

 

[Ora_et_Labora_1]

It changed my life greatly, and started my conversion process.

Maybe it’s a case of, “For him who has ears to hear…” ???

I liked it imensly and plan on re-reading it. Still, I think there is more to it than meets the eye. Perhaps it’s just me. I have heard it is a good primer for the Philokalia, but this latter is a book one should not try to “tackle” without spiritual direction.

 

[JaredR]

I just picked up Interior Castle last night thanks, in part, to this thread.