Formal Prayer and the Presence of Jesus

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Here is my situation.

Most times I feel comfortable with not saying formal prayers, like the Rosary for example,but I feel guilty also for not doing this. I enjoy, or feel comfortable just talking in my mind to Jesus and just plain being with Jesus in most of the thoughts of the day. I keep Him in my mind and before me even when I am working. However, I also feel guilty that I am not engaged in a lot of formal prayers also. Basically, my whole day is geared toward God. I do not have a lot of time to begin with and with my studies starting soon, I will have less. But I just enjoy and feel peaceful just thinking about Jesus, God and the Spirit and involving them in my communications and situations each day and being in their presence.

Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this situation as to how I should look at this reasonably?

Thanks,
 
Here is my situation.

Most times I feel comfortable with not saying formal prayers, like the Rosary for example,but I feel guilty also for not doing this. I enjoy, or feel comfortable just talking in my mind to Jesus and just plain being with Jesus in most of the thoughts of the day. I keep Him in my mind and before me even when I am working. However, I also feel guilty that I am not engaged in a lot of formal prayers also. Basically, my whole day is geared toward God. I do not have a lot of time to begin with and with my studies starting soon, I will have less. But I just enjoy and feel peaceful just thinking about Jesus, God and the Spirit and involving them in my communications and situations each day and being in their presence.

Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this situation as to how I should look at this reasonably?

Thanks,
There is no reason to feel guilty about this. There is a book by Father Thomas Dubay called The Prayer Primer which is very helpful in explaining the different types of prayer. It is a small book and worth the money. He tells us that contemplation is a higher form of prayer than formal prayers, and really is the type we should aim for, without necessarily abandoning the others. It sounds as if you are headed in that direction.
 
There is no reason to feel guilty about this. There is a book by Father Thomas Dubay called The Prayer Primer which is very helpful in explaining the different types of prayer. It is a small book and worth the money. He tells us that contemplation is a higher form of prayer than formal prayers, and really is the type we should aim for, without necessarily abandoning the others. It sounds as if you are headed in that direction.
Thank you so much for your information.

I am just not drawn to formal prayers, except the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and sometimes the Rosary. I find I enjoy just thinking about Jesus, or asking him questions or just contemplating a part of His Passion. I can be in a crowd, but my mind is on him, yet I am communicating very well with others. Sometimes I think this is very strange, but I am drawn to do this. I always seem like my mind is constantly on heaven and Jesus, but I am performing my work or what ever the issue is at hand well. Just wondered if anyone else felt like this.

Again, thanks
 
I do this too, but I also do formal prayers. I have so many memorized, and they just express things better than I could, and I especially like the “bead” prayers - rosary, the Jesus prayer (chotki) iarelative.com/chotki.htm and chaplet of St. Therese. They seem more powerful to me and are so easy. I do struggle with liturgy of the hours, which I am supposed to say some of every day. Thank goodness for the internet. 🙂
 
CB Catholic, you beat me to it with the recommendation for Fr Dubay’s book. 🙂 I have just finished it and it is terrific. I am buying a copy each for my son and a friend.

Also good is Fr Bartunek’s The Better Part. Fr Bartunek has also a booklet about meditation which is not expensive.
This is his website: rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/
 
THE CCC kinda covers this, seems like you’re more drawn to Contemplative Prayer. Nothing wrong with that or anything to feel guitly about.

2709 What is contemplative prayer? St. Teresa answers: "Contemplative prayer [oracion mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us."6 Contemplative prayer seeks him "whom my soul loves."7 It is Jesus, and in him, the Father. We seek him, because to desire him is always the beginning of love, and we seek him in that pure faith which causes us to be born of him and to live in him. In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself.

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 and in faith.

2711 Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we “gather up:” the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us. We let our masks fall and turn our hearts back to the Lord who loves us, so as to hand ourselves over to him as an offering to be purified and transformed.

2712 Contemplative prayer is the prayer of the child of God, of the forgiven sinner who agrees to welcome the love by which he is loved and who wants to respond to it by loving even more.8 But he knows that the love he is returning is poured out by the Spirit in his heart, for everything is grace from God. Contemplative prayer is the poor and humble surrender to the loving will of the Father in ever deeper union with his beloved Son.

2713 Contemplative prayer is the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty. Contemplative prayer is a covenant relationship established by God within our hearts.9 Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, “to his likeness.”

2714 Contemplative prayer is also the pre-eminently intense time of prayer. In it the Father strengthens our inner being with power through his Spirit “that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith” and we may be "grounded in love."10

2715 Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. “I look at him and he looks at me”: this is what a certain peasant of Ars in the time of his holy curé used to say while praying before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men. Contemplation also turns its gaze on the mysteries of the life of Christ. Thus it learns the “interior knowledge of our Lord,” the more to love him and follow him.11

2716 Contemplative prayer is hearing the Word of God. Far from being passive, such attentiveness is the obedience of faith, the unconditional acceptance of a servant, and the loving commitment of a child. It participates in the “Yes” of the Son become servant and the Fiat of God’s lowly handmaid.

2717 Contemplative prayer is silence, the "symbol of the world to come"12 or "silent love."13 Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. In this silence, unbearable to the “outer” man, the Father speaks to us his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus.

2718 Contemplative prayer is a union with the prayer of Christ insofar as it makes us participate in his mystery. The mystery of Christ is celebrated by the Church in the Eucharist, and the Holy Spirit makes it come alive in contemplative prayer so that our charity will manifest it in our acts.

2719 Contemplative prayer is a communion of love bearing Life for the multitude, to the extent that it consents to abide in the night of faith. The Paschal night of the Resurrection passes through the night of the agony and the tomb - the three intense moments of the Hour of Jesus which his Spirit (and not “the flesh [which] is weak”) brings to life in prayer. We must be willing to "keep watch with [him] one hour."14

IN BRIEF

2720 The Church invites the faithful to regular prayer: daily prayers, the Liturgy of the Hours, Sunday Eucharist, the feasts of the liturgical year.

2721 The Christian tradition comprises three major expressions of the life of prayer: vocal prayer, meditation, and contemplative prayer. They have in common the recollection of the heart.

2722 Vocal prayer, founded on the union of body and soul in human nature, associates the body with the interior prayer of the heart, following Christ’s example of praying to his Father and teaching the Our Father to his disciples.

2723 Meditation is a prayerful quest engaging thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. Its goal is to make our own in faith the subject considered, by confronting it with the reality of our own life.

2724 Contemplative prayer is the simple expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gaze of faith fixed on Jesus, an attentiveness to the Word of God, a silent love. It achieves real union with the prayer of Christ to the extent that it makes us share in his mystery.
 
Here is my situation.

Most times I feel comfortable with not saying formal prayers, like the Rosary for example,but I feel guilty also for not doing this. I enjoy, or feel comfortable just talking in my mind to Jesus and just plain being with Jesus in most of the thoughts of the day. I keep Him in my mind and before me even when I am working. However, I also feel guilty that I am not engaged in a lot of formal prayers also. Basically, my whole day is geared toward God. I do not have a lot of time to begin with and with my studies starting soon, I will have less. But I just enjoy and feel peaceful just thinking about Jesus, God and the Spirit and involving them in my communications and situations each day and being in their presence.

Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this situation as to how I should look at this reasonably?

Thanks,
There is nothing wrong with praying to Jesus in this way, from a traditional perspective 🙂 Many Saints must have done this too.
I would recommend praying the Rosary *as well *though, because it obtains many graces for us, and because it sort of keeps us grounded in the faith… it helps us to understand God better so that when you simply spend time with Him, - that time is more fruitful. Our Blessed Mother has said that after the Mass, the Rosary is her favourite prayer… and that is because it is God’s own words to her, “Hail [Mary], full of grace, the Lord is with thee”. Then meditating on the events of the lives of Jesus and Mary is very worthwhile. You might be interested in the book “the Secret of the Rosary”, - it got me more interested in the Rosary and it gives ways to pray it better. There are also booklets you can get with meditations for each Hail Mary, that has helped many people as well. (click on the mysteries in this link: rosary-center.org/howto.htm ). Another great formal prayers to say are the Divine Mercy chaplet (which was given by Our Lord Himself!) and the 7 Sorrows Chaplet. (a meditation on Mary’s sorrows, this is great if you are praying for repentance before Confession).

By the way, it’s a great idea to do everything with Jesus, and incorporating prayer into all parts of your day 🙂 I think that is actually what we should strive for! 👍 it says in Scripture, “pray always”. The Saints also prayed always, not only when they did formal prayer.

God bless!
 
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