How do you Pray Constantly

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I have been thinking about this a lot recently. I have concluded that in some ways, I can’t do it. Life interferes. Someone needs something, a favorite show comes on tv, have to get dinner ready, have to look up something on the intenet. have to call for an appointment etc. ad nauseum.

I have tried Liturgy of the Hours and know that it calls one to prayer several times a day, but that is not constantly. Besides, I fail at that miserably. I forget, or just get lazy or something.

Mindfulness has come to mind (:)) and this is seeming more to the point. That is that I start the day with a morning offering - usually made up, not formal, then think of God or offer to God etc, throughout the day. Well there is some ask God in there too.

I would really like to hear how others are dealing with the admonition to “pray constantly”. How do you do it?
 
How about… if you’re doing the dishes, offer your work for the holy souls in purgatory - when driving, offer your safe trip for a sick relative - when showering, offer a prayer of thanksgiving for your health, etc. You get the point. If we take even the most mundane activity and make it meaningful (either in petition or thanksgiving), we are making our life a prayer. That is, praying constantly!
 
I think it would help to examine what you mean by “prayer.”

If by “prayer,” we mean to consciously ask for things, say prayers either memorized or spontaneous, or whatever, then a) we’re missing out on what prayer can be, and b) we’re setting ourselves up for failure because we can’t consciously do anything all the time while doing other things too.

Really “praying” and “existing” can pretty much become the same thing, once you pass a certain hurdle some SD’s call “moving into the second half of life.” Every breath is a prayer. You have surrendered yourself to God totally, and you pray with your very life.

This is actually a great time for me to hear this question, because just last week one SD I pay attention to talked about learning to pray in his daily emails. It is Fransciscan Fr. Richard Rohr. I’ll say this once; some think he’s a wacko but he’s been a Spiritual Director for a long time and has helped scores of people. So this isn’t about Rohr, but what his emails say about prayer.

Here is the text of the email in the series from Sunday 2/12. For organization’s sake, I’ll just put one daily email per post.

Feb 12, 2012

Richard’s Daily Meditations

DISCOVERING YOUR TRUE SELF
THROUGH PRAYER

“Second half of life” wisdom requires prayer and discernment more than
knee-jerk responses toward either conservative or liberal ends of the
spectrum. You have a spectrum of responses now, and they are not all
predictable, as is too often the case with most knee-jerk responses. Law
is still necessary, of course, but it is not your guiding star, or even
close. It has been wrong and cruel too many times.

The Eight Beatitudes speak to you much more than the Ten Commandments as
you grow older. Life is much more spacious now. The boundaries of the
container have been enlarged. You are like an expandable suitcase, and
you became so almost without your noticing. Now you are just here, and
here holds more than enough.

Starter Prayer:
Teach me to pray.
 
Fr. Richard Rohr daily email from Monday, 2/13:

Feb 13, 2012

Richard’s Daily Meditations

DISCOVERING YOUR TRUE SELF
THROUGH PRAYER

“Everything exposed to the light itself becomes light,” says
Ephesians 5:13 1. In prayer, we merely keep returning the divine gaze and
we become its reflection, almost in spite of ourselves (2 Corinthians
3:18 2). The word “prayer” has often been trivialized by making it
into a way of getting what we want. But I use “prayer” as the
umbrella word for any interior journeys or practices that allow you to
experience faith, hope, and love within yourself. It is not a technique
for getting things, a pious exercise that somehow makes God happy, or a
requirement for entry into heaven. It is much more like practicing
heaven now.

Such prayer, such seeing, takes away your anxiety for figuring it all
out fully for yourself, or needing to be right about your formulations.
At this point, God becomes more a verb than a noun, more a process than
a conclusion, more an experience than a dogma, more a personal
relationship than an idea. There is Someone dancing with you, and you
are not afraid of making mistakes.

Starter Prayer:
Teach me to pray.
 
Father Richard Rohr daily email, 2/14:

DISCOVERING YOUR TRUE SELF
THROUGH PRAYER

Tuesday, February 14, 2012
St. Valentine’s Day

In what is commonly called prayer, you and your hurts, needs, and
perspectives are still the central reference point, not really God. But
you have decided to invite a Major Power in to help you with your
already determined solution! God can perhaps help you get what you want,
but it is still a self-centered desire, instead of God’s much better
role—which is to help you know what you really desire (Luke 11:13 1,
Matthew 7:11 2). It always takes a bit of time to widen this lens, and
therefore the screen, of life.

One goes through serious withdrawal pain for a while until the screen is
widened to a high-definition screen. It is work to learn how to pray,
largely the work of emptying the mind and filling the heart—that is
prayer in one concise and truthful phrase. Or as some say, “pulling the
mind down into the heart” until they both operate as one. A good thing
to think about with all of the hearts you will probably see on this
Valentine’s Day!

Starter Prayer:
Teach me to pray.
 
Father Richard Rohr daily email, 2/15:

Feb 15, 2012

Richard’s Daily Meditations

DISCOVERING YOUR TRUE SELF
THROUGH PRAYER

Our operative God image is often a subtle combination of our mom and our
dad and/or any other significant authority figures. Once we begin an
inner life of prayer and in-depth study of sacred texts, we slowly begin
to grow, and from then on it only gets better. Grace does its work and
creates a unique “work of art” (Ephesians 2:10 1).

Most early “God talk”—without self-knowledge and inner
journey—is largely a sincere pretense, even to the person who
consciously believes the language (see teachings of Socrates, Teresa of
Avila, Carl Jung). The miracle of grace and true prayer is that they
invade the unconscious mind and heart (where our real truth lies)—and
thus really change us! It invades them so much that the love of God and
the love of self invariably proceed forward together. On the practical
level, they are experienced as the same thing!

Starter Prayer:
Teach me to pray.
 
Father Richard Rohr daily email, 2/16:

February 16

DISCOVERING YOUR TRUE SELF
THROUGH PRAYER

Only the great self, the True Self, the God Self, can carry our anxieties. The little self cannot do it. People who don’t pray basically cannot live the Gospel, because the self is not strong enough to contain and reveal our delusions and our fear. I am most quoted for this line: “If you do not transform your pain, you will always transmit it.” Always someone else has to suffer because I don’t know how to suffer; that is what it comes down to. Jesus, you could say, came to show us how to suffer, how to carry “the legitimate pain of being human,” as C.G. Jung called it. Beware of running from yourself and your own legitimate suffering, which is the price of being a human being in a limited world.

From A Lever and a Place to Stand:
The Contemplative Stance, the Active Prayer, pp. 79-80

Starter Prayer:
Teach me to pray.
 
Father Richard Rohr daily email, 2/17:

Feb 17, 2012

Richard’s Daily Meditations

DISCOVERING YOUR TRUE SELF
THROUGH PRAYER

Prayer is not about changing God, but being willing to let God change
us, or as Step 11 in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says,
“praying only for the knowledge of His will.” Jesus goes so far as
to say that true prayer is always answered (Matthew 7:7-11 1). Now we all
know that this is not factually true—unless he is talking about prayer
in the sense that I am trying to describe it. If you are able to switch
minds to the mind of Christ, your prayer has already been answered! That
new mind knows, understands, accepts, and sees correctly, widely and
wisely. Its prayers are always answered because they are, in fact, the
prayers of God, too.

True prayer is always about getting the “who” right. Who is doing
the praying? You or God-in-you? “Little old you” or the Eternal Christ
Consciousness? Basically prayer is an exercise in divine
participation—you opting in and God always there!

Starter Prayer:
Teach me to pray.
 
Father Richard Rohr daily email, 2/18:

Feb 18, 2012

Richard’s Daily Meditations

DISCOVERING YOUR TRUE SELF
THROUGH PRAYER

Contemplation (the prayer beyond words and ideas) is a way to describe
what Jesus did in the desert. It is not learning as much as it is
unlearning. It is not explaining as much as containing and receiving
everything, and holding onto nothing. It is refusing to judge too
quickly and refining your own thoughts and feelings by calm observation
and awareness over time—in the light of the Big Picture.

You cannot understand anything well once you have approved or
disapproved of it. There is too much you there. Contemplation is
loosening our attachment to ourselves so that Reality can get at us,
especially the Absolute Reality that we call God.

Contemplation is the most radical form of self-abandonment that I can
imagine. It is most difficult if there is not a profound trust that
there is Someone to whom I can be abandoned! Such self-forgetfulness
paradoxically leads one to a firm and somewhat fearless sense of
responsibility. Now I can risk responsibility precisely because I know
the buck does not stop here. There is a co-creation going on, a life
giving synergism that is found somewhere between surrender and personal
responsibility, God fully “co-operating with those who love God”
(Romans 8:28 1), as St. Paul says it.

Starter Prayer:
Teach me to pray.
 
Prayer is merely a dialogue with God. When you wake in the morning say hello to God. Tell Him how much you love Him and pray that He may increase your faith and love by 1000% that day. Look forward to the next time when you receive Christ in the intimacy of Holy Communion and think about the things you want to tell Him. Make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life; this simply means that* Christ rules over all of your life*, from the moment you wake to the moment you retire at night. Begin the day by reading Sacred Scripture and pondering what you read all day. Also, ponder the life of Christ throughout the day by thinking about the mysteries of the Rosary.

Here is a short talk by Archbishop Fulton Sheen on what it means to truly and sincerely love God with all of your strength, all your mind, all your soul:

BRIEF TALK

Here is a video that will help impress in your mind Jesus Christ throughout the day:
Video of Jesus Christ
 
Praying constantly is not just about saying verbal prayers like the Rosary or the Office, or even contemplative mental prayer and meditation. Praying constantly is simply pausing throughout the day to look up at God and smile, and put yourself in His presence. It’s about living a very recollected life. Here’s a few resources that can help with that.

Morning Offering

First, get in the habit of saying a Morning Offering. Saying a simple prayer like this one makes everything that you do throughout the day a prayer. My priest recommends that it be said before you even leave the bedroom in the morning, that you wake up and immediately kneel and say this along with three Hail Marys. However, I’m never quite that awake and tends to say it when I jump in the shower. 😊 Here’s a very common offering:
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all our associates, and in particular for the intentions of our Holy Father for this month.
Click to expand...
I have a special devotion to praying for the sanctification of priests, so I always modify the ending to say, “in reparation for sins, for the conversion of souls, for the intentions of my friends, associates, and Pope Benedict XVI, and for the sanctification of priests, especially my parish priests, all the priests of the FSSP, the priests and monks at the Clear Creek Abbey, and the priest whom is in most need of my prayers that you have given me to be to be their spiritual mother.” You could add any intention in which you have devotion, such as the end to abortion, the conversion of specific souls (I often add “especially those who have been deceived by the lies of the LDS church”), or for the holy souls in purgatory.

Living a recollected life

My priest says that most people have it backwards. Most people pray so that they may live well. In fact, people should structure their lives so that they can pray well. That may mean turning off the TV a few nights a week and saying a rosary with the family or doing spiritual reading. That may mean going to sleep 15 minutes earlier so that the alarm can be set earlier and daily mass can become a regular occurrence. Here’s a couple of homilies about prayer and recollection that are really great listening.

Those Who Pray Are Certainly Saved
The spirit of Recollection

Practicing the Presence of God

One of the books that literally changed my spiritual life is a very simple book called “Practice of the Presence of God: The Best Rule of Holy Life” by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, a Carmelite religious. This is the quote that changed my life:

**“Do everything for the love of God. Everything can be used to show God our love and to maintain his presence within . . .I flip over my omelet in the pan for love of God.” **

Think about it … how often do we turn to God and say, “I do this for love of thee”? Brother Lawrence says, “Our sanctification depends, not on changing what we do, but rather on doing for God what we normally do for ourselves”, and I have taken that deeply into my heart. I’ve gotten into some odd habits of making sure everything I do is a prayer of gratitude and offering of love. For example, I pick things up and put them in the trash - leaves in the hallway, toilet paper on the floor, that kind of thing. I pick them up not because it’s my job, or even to be nice to other people. I do it and say, “For love of thee, O lord, I put this in the trash.” It’s such a silly, simple devotion, but it means so much for me to be able to give Him those humbling acts simply for love of Him.

Here’s another great homily about a special kind of recollection in prayer, a method of prayer called “contemplation through the senses” which involves simply looking around and experiencing God in everything around us.

Pray with Humility and Pray Always
 
Okay, not being very mindful - just noticed you had mentioned you’re praying a Morning Offering. :doh2:

Something else that I do to pray always is to turn my inner monologue into a prayer to God. Instead of thinking the issues and stresses and happinesses of the day in my head, I turn it around and tell it to God. “Lord, thank you for bringing my attention to the car in front of me who just slammed on their brakes so I didn’t rear end them. I’ve got so much at work to do today, Lord, so please give me the strength to do my vocation well. Lord, I’ve noticed my mind dwelled on the outfit of the person at morning Mass a lot today. Please grant me the grace of humility so that I can not be so judgmental of others. Lord, thank you for the smell of Earl Grey Tea.” That kind of thing.
 
Very Good Question. I often think about this question myself. But, I think what it means has to do with HOW we live. It is a commitment to live for Christ, as to love is more a commitment than anything else. Living for Christ in all that we do, and in all that we say to one another is a prayer for the glory of Christ. And, when we fail, we know it…and our commitment turns to Christ for forgiveness.
 
The_Leprechaun said:
Very Good Question. I often think about this question myself. But, I think what it means has to do with HOW we live. It is a commitment to live for Christ, as to love is more a commitment than anything else. Living for Christ in all that we do, and in all that we say to one another is a prayer for the glory of Christ. And, when we fail, we know it…and our commitment turns to Christ for forgiveness.
Click to expand...
:amen:
 
Wow, Ask and you will receive. Thank you so much all of you who have replied. I think I will try to find Rev. Rohr’s website as that second half of life thing resonates with me now that I am truly “elderly”.

I have recently tried to do more things like LOTH, Rosary, etc. but really prefer just being with God. I am finding myself being more drawn to God the Father recently - not sure why but I am not going to argue.

I really like the comments about just offering daily tasks to the Glory of God. That seems so right and actually keeps us in dialogue with Him. I had a sister in Christ who used to practice a kind of mindfullness. She tickled me when she said she often asked Him to help her find a parking place in a crowded lot and often thanked him for doing so! I think that says that even the most mundane of events can be transformed by our dear Lord.

Let’s try to keep this thread going. I am encouraged and I hope others are also.

By the way, loved the morning offering in the shower and on knees! I never make it ti knees anymore. Usually wake up in a fog, and hope my first coherent thought has to do with Good Morning God, I offer you this day. Help me to make it worthy of You. Ugh, first step, get out of bed.
 
Ohana said:
I have been thinking about this a lot recently. I have concluded that in some ways, I can’t do it. Life interferes. Someone needs something, a favorite show comes on tv, have to get dinner ready, have to look up something on the intenet. have to call for an appointment etc. ad nauseum.

I have tried Liturgy of the Hours and know that it calls one to prayer several times a day, but that is not constantly. Besides, I fail at that miserably. I forget, or just get lazy or something.

Mindfulness has come to mind (:)) and this is seeming more to the point. That is that I start the day with a morning offering - usually made up, not formal, then think of God or offer to God etc, throughout the day. Well there is some ask God in there too.

I would really like to hear how others are dealing with the admonition to “pray constantly”. How do you do it?
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The morning offering to start the day.
O sacred Heart of Jesus, thru the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, and sufferings and joys of this day in honor of your most sacred Heart, in reparation for my sins and for the sins of the whole world.

He lives in us thru the divine indwelling and wants to be with us thru out our day in everything we do. He desires that we tell Him frequently that we love Him, not that He dosn’t know that, but He wishes hear us say it from our heart. For he listens for it to be said voluntarily and said with love. Nothing gives Him greater pleasure than that we join ourselves to Him in our daily activities. Say frequently “O Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy” from the heart. Short prayers said with meaning and unction are more fruitful than long prayers in a rote fashion.

When we are washing dishes, he wants to be there too. When sitting on our patio, he wants to be there too. It isn’t in opposition to all of that because he has assigned us our activities. He “enjoys” being with us. It is like a mother or family member who loves us and enjoys our company. We should say this often, “Jesus I love you.”
“Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy.” Like a mother who likes to hear her little one say, “mommy I love you.” Too often we think only of him as some indestructable God, not allowing ourselves to understand that he is tender and caring and likes to hear from those whom he loves very much. Don’t be afraid. Be close and open.

A few loving thoughts in honor of Him who has done so much for us.
 
Ohana said:
I think I will try to find Rev. Rohr’s website as that second half of life thing resonates with me now that I am truly “elderly”.
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cacradicalgrace.org/
I have recently tried to do more things like LOTH, Rosary, etc. but really prefer just being with God. I am finding myself being more drawn to God the Father recently - not sure why but I am not going to argue.
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Then it sounds to my like you are a clear candidate for joining in contemplative prayer. A good place to start would be where Lectio Divina (divine reading) is practiced. See CCC 2700-2724. A couple snippets:

CCC 2709:
What is contemplative prayer? St. Teresa answers: “Contemplative prayer [oración 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.” Contemplative prayer seeks him “whom my soul loves.” 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.

CCC 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.

CCC 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.

Alan
 
Ohana said:
I had a sister in Christ who used to practice a kind of mindfullness. She tickled me when she said she often asked Him to help her find a parking place in a crowded lot and often thanked him for doing so!
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I always thank my Guardian Angel for good parking spots. 😃 I told my confessor that my guardian angel is a car mechanic, because he always keeps my car running until payday. :angel1:
 
HonoraDominum said:
I always thank my Guardian Angel for good parking spots. 😃 I told my confessor that my guardian angel is a car mechanic, because he always keeps my car running until payday. :angel1:
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Years ago I asked my Guardian Angel to give me a nudge so I wouldn’t daydream through the consecration at Mass and I’ve only “missed” a couple of consecrations in over a decade. It might be worth it to ask our angels to give us a nudge. I think this works particularly well for practicing the presence of God.
 
I like the reliance on our Guardian Angel. They are really good allies. Sometimes when I want to get up for early Mass but am not sure I will hear my alarm or don’t want it to awaken my DH, I just say, “well if you want me to go, wake me ok.” I then find myself waking up at oh-dark-thirty in time to make it.

I am feeling called to more contemplative prayer, but I used to think I had to go sit somewhere and be quiet. Well that is good too, but we can also contemplate in an active life I think. I have good times with God when gardening for example - although not this time of year!

We have an outdoor stations of the cross near here. That might be a good place to both be prayful and to contemplate the gaze of Jesus.
 
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