How do you pray always?

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I’m wondering how people personally apply this command in their own lives. I’m aware of some traditional methods like having very short prayers/invocations often on the lips, or of consecrating their work time beforehand. But the ways seem limitless and not everything works for everyone. What helps you live in the presence of God? I’m wondering because I want to try things out before Lent! 🙂 Thanks for your help.
 
steymard said:
I’m wondering how people personally apply this command in their own lives. I’m aware of some traditional methods like having very short prayers/invocations often on the lips, or of consecrating their work time beforehand. But the ways seem limitless and not everything works for everyone. What helps you live in the presence of God? I’m wondering because I want to try things out before Lent! 🙂 Thanks for your help.
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Offering up things during the day as they are happening ,for other people.Thanking God for all the things as they too are happening (a friendly face,nature,opportunities ,etc)
Turning towards a church and praying,going past a cemetery praying.If some one comes to mind saying a prayer for them.Making it habit to pray the Memorare (?) and rosary when driving.
A good question,I would love to know more ways too 🙂
 
I like to listen to Christian music. It helps me to keep my focus on God and give Him glory and praise all day.
 
I know I’m answering my own question, but I just remembered another way: daily, small mortifications. Like consciously sitting with your back straight. Or taking the slow lane. I heard St. Dominic kept his eyes lowered constantly to remind himself that he was always in God’s presence.

Keep 'em coming. Thanks!
 
I suggest praying whenever you can, fit in prayers for everything you see, such as people in need. “Walk with the Lord.”

If you’re distracted during prayer, like saying the rosary, keep praying and you can overcome distractions with practice. One thing I noticed, is that if I said the prayers of the Rosary slowly, I was much more attentive to them, then if I was trying to say them too fast.

One conflict that I have with prayer, is that it interferes with my sinning. So, at least I’m thinking about prayer when I’m trying to resist temptation.
 
I keep a running conversation in my head with God about almost everything. I did vocal prayer and contemplative prayer mostly, to the point where I began to change. Now God is a constant awareness and hardly five minutes go by without something reminding me of His loving generosity. So really I don’t have to set aside a time or follow a schedule for this, or even struggle – it’s just part of how I think now so in practice, each and every breath can become a prayer of glowing gratitude.

MS
 
I read a novel once where a monk was unearthed in a monastery and was alive. He continued too live among the monks there.

I remember a passage where the modern monks looked at him and noted that each of his actions were done as a prayer, a mentality left over from the earlier days of the order.

I try to make my actions as pure and simple as a prayer. That sounds poetic, so let me explain. No matter how often I am interrupted, i go back to a task with simple mindedness to do it well. The end result matters just as much as the work that goes into it.
 
I try to offer my whole day up at the beginning of the day, so that it is always on my mind. I try to pray intermittently, especially at 3:00pm. But I think, for me, trying to speak, act and think in charity makes the whole day a prayer. And always pray before sleeping.
 
Miserissima, that’s beautiful.

Thanks guys. I think I will also ask my spiritual director. It is hard for me to contemplate, to simply BE in God’s presence. Maybe that will take years. Until then, I think I am going to work on including more vocal prayers in everything, because that can be a starting point!
 
Miserimissa’ comment reminded me of St Therese. St. Therese of Lisuex, can point the way, of where the smallest things we do can be done with great love.

catholicnewsagency.com/news/st-therese-devotees-to-launch-little-way-social-media-campaign/
cardinalsblog.adw.org/2013/10/the-little-way/
steymard said:
Miserissima, that’s beautiful.

Thanks guys. I think I will also ask my spiritual director. It is hard for me to contemplate, to simply BE in God’s presence. Maybe that will take years. Until then, I think I am going to work on including more vocal prayers in everything, because that can be a starting point!
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Do you go to Eucharistic adoration??

It may help to make a connection of how we act before the Blessed Sacrament, to when we are* away* from the hidden Christ from the local parish, in our moments of prayer everywhere else.

As for Praying always, a simple way is to give thanks!
As for God’s presence and walking with him, it reminds me of when I was traveling and praying.
There was a quote from Pope Benedict the XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger, that was used by some dissidents to mislead some into suggesting Pope Benedict disparaging the power of the Eucharist in his book…

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Being Christian:
“Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament or the silent visit to a church cannot be, in its full sense, ** a simple conversation with God conceived as locally circumscribed. Expressions such as ‘God lives here’ and the idea of holding a conversation with a God who is localized are an expression of the Christological mystery and the mystery of God, that inevitably shocks the thinking man who knows that God is omnipresent.** When one tries to justify “going to church” by the notion that one has to visit God and he dwells only in that place, one’s justification is meaningless and is rightly rejected by modern man. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is connected with our Lord who, by his historic life and passion, has become our ‘bread’; that is to say, who, by his incarnation and death, has become the one whose arms are open to receive us. Such adoration is directed, then**, to the historic mystery of Jesus Christ, to the history of God with man, a history which approaches us in the Blessed Sacrament. And it is related to the mystery of the Church: being related to the history of God with man, it is related also to the whole ‘body of Christ, to the community of the faithful, through whom and in whom God comes to us”** (P.80).
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At the time I read it I was unable to reconcile this quote in answering the insinuations against the holy father’s book. . .*But *when I was traveling a long distance and decided to use the time sitting idly to devote some time for prayer and contemplation of God, and in silence I realized I could do the same as I do when genuflecting, and just be aware of God in his omnipresence instead of his physical presence in the Tabernacle…

His quote is apt in the overall context of the Mystery of the Trinity, and how where one is so are the other two. The connection of the Eucharist, of God’s tangible physical presence in the Tabernacle, goes hand in hand with how we worship God the father…
So the everywhere we are, if we can adore the Lord in the second person with easier focus, and a more purposeful will in awe of that gift of thanksgiving –
We then can apply that same yearning for accompanying Jesus, by adoring the Father in his omnipresence, yet still aware of the relationship with the three persons of the Trinity with us as creatures.

If we show, our recognition of the Lord before the Blessed Sacrament, in honoring the Son we please the Father, moved by the Holy Spirit to show that outward physical accompaniment and outward reverence…
If when we leave the parish, knowing how we adore Christ in the Tabernacle??

We can show that same reverence towards the Father, and we please the Son, moved by by the Holy Spirit, in our Interior, mental awareness of God the Father, just as we are aware of the physical presence of the Son in every Church.
 
Veridical16 said:
Do you go to Eucharistic adoration??

It may help to make a connection of how we act before the Blessed Sacrament, to when we are* away* from the hidden Christ from the local parish, in our moments of prayer everywhere else.
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I do go to adoration. I have to say that it is much easier there to rest in God’s presence - it feels like home, in a way. Thank you for your helpful comments; I will keep them in mind.
 
steymard said:
I do go to adoration. I have to say that it is much easier there to rest in God’s presence -** it feels like home, in a way.** Thank you for your helpful comments; I will keep them in mind.
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Yes , sometimes you don’t want to leave.

Hope your Lent helps you grow closer to God.
 
I too ask myself that question often. once i had this conversation with my spiritual director in Opus Dei:

Me: I wish I could pray like 10 hours a day.
SD: No, you should not pray 10 hours a day, pray 24 hours a day, in all that you do, offer your entire day to God. in your work, do it with love, at home with all your love too. But also, just like a couple who is walking down the street having a conversation (with distractions and all) they too during the day need to have some alone time to talk…just the two of them. So do we… with God.

I have found it helpful to follow “un plan de vida” plan of life (norms of piety) in Opus Dei. It has brought me closer to God.

Getting closer to God: going to mass frequently, praying the rosary, reading spiritual books, reading the lives of the saints, praying the Memorare, praying the Angelus,mental prayer, small mortifications (as you mentioned), going to spiritual retreats, going to confession, visiting the Blessed Sacrament, examination of conscience… amongst so many many many more ways to always be in constant prayer…
 
 
steymard said:
What helps you live in the presence of God?
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God helps me live in his presence.
With my cooperation, all is his grace.
If I say yes to God’s love and make an effort to pray, his grace will be fruitful. The Holy Spirit “prays within us with inexpressible groanings”.

Adoration hour is the most profitable discipline I make to live in the presence of God.
 
Chapter 39 of ben Sirach tell us how blessed it is to have leisure to study Torah and pray. A person with time to devote to these pursuits will be honored at the city gates and before kings and rulers. He will be given understanding and be able to advise with wisdom. But you are concerned with how to accomplish this without having the luxury of leisure. Go back a chapter. Begin at verse 24 and read onward through 30. Sirach recounts the cares and labors of the ordinary worker and it is apparent that there is little time for the study and prayer that makes a man wise. At 31 he breaks into the meditation to comment on how important these people really are. They aren’t seen discussing judgments at the city gates, or being asked to find an apt proverb. They aren’t invited to address the Rotary Club. However… “Without them a city cannot be established, and men can neither sojourn nor live there.” “… they keep stable the fabric of the world, and their prayer is in the practice of their trade.” (RSV-CE)
Thus the scripture teaches us that we are praying even as we work. Place this alongside the Catholic concept of quality work as an integral part of the lay apostolate. This is what Paul meant by one’s spiritual sacrifice. The Jesuits have a saying: “Work as though everything depends on you. Pray as though everything depends on God.” Sometimes we are mournfully aware of how inadequate our efforts are and how poor a job we are doing. G. K. Chesterton the great Catholic writer commented that “If it is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” By this he meant to encourage us at such times. There are times when our best is none too good.
But as Catholic Christians we can go further still. Today much is made of “multitasking.” The psychologists who study such things will tell you that there is no such thing. We can do only one thing at a time. We may do many things for short time spans and so appear to do many things at once, but there is a discernible break or pause between subsequent activities. The trick is to catch each break and make something of it. At each break between tasks repeat silently the sign of the cross. Note that this is not itself a prayer. It isn’t even a complete sentence. Look carefully and you will notice that it is actually a dedication. “What I have just finished/ What I am about to do is done… In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” In this fashion we can dedicate (make holy) each task in our day. Even our leisure can be dedicated. The Cistercians make recreation a part of each day’s activities. It is part of the Benedictine life style. “I am playing ball to refresh my heart… In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Similarly bed time, bath time, meal time can become a work blessed and given to God as a gift.
If we pay attention to this regularly, how might this affect the level of quality in our work?
The greatest difficulty you are likely to encounter is in picking up that instantaneous pause between activities and punctuating it with a dedication. But as you do this you will become more and more aware of the presence of God. You will abide in His presence.
God bless the work.

deBoisvert
 
By praying when tempted; by offering up persecution and suffering for the salvation of human souls; by showing love and devotion to the Blessed Mother and Her Son; by praying for others; by remaining silent when not necessary as a spiritual discipline; by remaining in an uncomfortable position for a period of time for penance; by reading the lives of the saints, or Sacred Scripture; many others.
 
I too recommend Bro Lawrence’s Presence of God–you can search here at Ccom for good comments on it, and its available free on the web.
 
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