Falling asleep when praying

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I pray first thing in the morning about 5am laying in bed on my back with my hands together. I recite prayers hymns and put forth my own thanks and pray for the needs of others. I have a toddler who wakes about 6am and once he is up it’s all go, little time for reflection and prayer. I find very short moments at work (ie pee breaks) to pray. Evenings are also busy and again i take advantage of the small moments. Late evening to be honest i am too tired to concentrate. So my main prayer of the day is the early morning one which i like as i like the idea of giving thanks and praise to God as soon as my eyes are open.

Problem is that as i pray in the early morning i find i am drifting in and out of sleep. It’s a nice feeling but sometimes i wonder if it’s disrespectful to God to be falling asleep in prayer.

Any comments much appreciated.
 
Perhaps it would help if you sat up in a comfortable position?

I remember St. Therese of Lisieux mentioning in her autobiography that at times she would drift off to sleep while saying the Divine Office. She said she knew that God loved her when she was awake and when she was asleep.

(Nodding off is extremely difficult to fight. A cup of coffee first thing might help!) 🙂
 
Look up a little booklet by Brother Lawrence called “Practice of the Presence of God” (browse by author for Lawrence at ccel.org/ to find it and read online; a short booklet)

Pray throughout the day by a quick telling to the Lord, “I am going to do this task now as a gift to you” then do it intentionally as a gift to him rather than as a thing that is keeping you from him.

“Lord is is 6am and my toddler is waking; I am going now to take care of this little one you gave to my care to watch over for you”. “Lord, I am off to work for you in the tasks I do”. “Lord, I am making supper for you so you may nourish the family you gave to my care”.

All day long you can be in the presence of God in everything. Then, at morning or night or pee breaks you can have a longer prayer to your companion and Lord where you talk over the big picture of who he is, who you are, and your purpose in living your life for him.

By the way, I fall asleep in prayer at night - not the formal type prayers which do get said consciously, but in the talk like Jesus and his disciples might have done around the fire as they walked to a far town, talking with Jesus about the day and about what they are doing and where they are going, etc., then one by one drifting off to sleep.

How does that sound?
 
I don’t think it is a big deal. I once heard that he Pope himself has fallen asleep during prayers.🙂
 
I’ve yawned when i used to try and pray sometimes. I said sorry in between the yawns.
 
try to find a way to stay awake, but don’t become scrupulous and think because I fall asleep in prayer I’m being sinful.

Sheen in his book when talking about the holy hour said once he slept through their entire hour. After he asked God did I do my holy hour and he said yes. Now we don’t want time of prayer turn into a time of napping. But falling asleep in prayer isn’t bad.
 
Well if you are falling asleep praying at night and its the time or rather only time prayed, thats not a good thing. But falling asleep praying in itself isn’t a terrible thing, might even be blessing that gives you the peace to sleep. Thank Him when you wake. 🙂
 
Can a mother get angryvwith her child if the child falls asleep in her arms? No. So why would God, who loves you dearly, get mad for falling asleep in prayer?
 
JackVk said:
Can a mother get angryvwith her child if the child falls asleep in her arms? No. So why would God, who loves you dearly, get mad for falling asleep in prayer?
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👍 well said.

I fell asleep the other night praying the Rosary somewhere during the 2nd and 3rd decade. I felt guilty the next day when I remembered, but your post makes me feel better!
 
When saying the rosary, it’s sometimes easy to get so deep in meditation that I doze a little bit. I think it’s ok. You likely pray at other, more wakeful times in the day as well, and God hears all our prayers as long as we’re sincere.
 
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