How to pray always "Christ Himself said, we ought always to pray"

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BarbaraTherese

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Below is something I came across when reading something else in New Advent and is the best explanation of “to pray always” that I have ever read in its direct simplicity.

As a very brief summary of the quotation below, is that we pray always when:
    • · We give some time to Morning and Evening Prayer and it is not the length of prayer that is important so much as our attention to whatever time we do give it.
    • · We have an obligation to pray when we are in some pressing need
    • · For the need of others to fulfill obligations under Charity
    • · Attendance at Sunday Mass with attention and keeping our Sunday Obligation
    • · Keeping our Friday obligations as a day of Penance
    • · Keeping Holy Days of Obligation and Feast days insofar as we may be able
    • · Observing the Laws and Regulations of The Church
    • · To spend some time regularly in mental prayer and pondering “divine matters" some time daily if possible. At very least weekly. And this could comprise our Morning or Evening Prayer.
      “Common sense is the guide of all the virtues”.
      We can recall too that as in the Divine Office we pray for and on behalf of the whole Church, so during they day if we are totally distracted for some reason, The Church somewhere is praying on our behalf. This is that beautiful doctrine of the Mystical Body which we can always unite ourselves consciously to daily or whenever we may think of it. It is also I think a good habit to get into the habit daily of offering our work to God, which is almost always connected to our vocation and the duties intrinsic to it. And if not, then offer it to God anyway.
    If we keep the above, then according to The Church we are praying always and keeping Christ’s command to “pray always”. Of course we can add to the above if we wish, including by private devotions. If we observe all the above we are keeping the minimum and praying always and if we pray always we will grow spiritually.

    newadvent.org/cathen/12345b.htm
    • Without prayer we cannot resist temptation, nor obtain God’s grace, nor grow and persevere in it.
      This necessity is incumbent on all according ttheir different states in life,
    • “And he spoke also a parable, to them that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1); but it is especially pressing when we are in great need of prayer, when without it we cannot overcome some obstacle or perform some obligation; when, to fulfil various obligations of charity, we should pray for others; and when it is specially implied in some obligation imposed by the Church, such as attendance at Mass, and the observance of Sundays and feast-days.
    • This is true of vocal prayer, and as regards mental prayer, or meditation, this, too, is necessary so far as we may need to apply our mind to the study of Divine things in order to acquire a knowledge of the truths necessary for salvation.
    • …prayer should (not) br out sole occupation, as the Euchites, or Messalians, and similar heretical sects professed to believe.
    • The texts of Scripture bidding us to pray without ceasing mean that we must pray whenever it is necessary, as it so frequently is necessary; that we must continue to pray until we shall have obtained what we need.
    • St. Francis de Sales uses it (laborare est orare – to toil is to pray – brackets mine) to mean prayer reinforced by work, or rather work which is inspired by prayer.
    • The practice of the Church, devoutly followed by the faithful, is to begin and end the day with prayer; and though morning and evening prayer is not of strict obligation, the practice of it so well satisfies our sense of the need of prayer that neglect of it, especially for a long time is regarded as more or less sinful, according to the cause of the neglect, which is commonly some form of sloth.
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Beautiful and thank you.🙂

I read one line of Sacred Scripture and it has never left me:
**
‘Pray unceasingly’**

this was the primary influence on the Living Prayer of my life and lit a fire in me that will not go out, but grows.

In the Living prayer of my life
 
Just take a pebble and put it in your shoe. Not so large that you cause a laceration but, not so small that you forget it’s there. The discomfort will be a reminder to pray. Short but continual prayers…laus tibi Domine, gloria tibi Domine.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.
 
Thank you BlessedStar and also Mangy Dog (interesting tag;) _ ) for the (name removed by moderator)ut…actually to do something like putting a small stone in the shoe is very good way to remember little aspirations of love during the day, and after a while of small stones in the shoe, you wouldn’t need it anymore as you would have built up a habit? Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut!
My good friends, when I ask them to pray for me, I ask to put something in the house out of place and everytime it annoys them, it will be a reminder to pray for me. I even asked our retired Archbishop to do this for me!😃
This is what I really love about threads that interest me, very often someone will post something that is truly excellent to me that I can incorporate into my own life. Is not the Holy Spirit wondorus!!!

God’s Blessings and His Peace with Joy…Barb:)
 
Thank you for the list!!!

Before, I think I had wasted lots of time when I am driving. Now, when I am on highway, I find quite few things to pray for:
  • a driver who drives too fast.
  • another changes lanes without signaling.
  • another riding motor bike without helmet.
  • cars broken down on the street.
  • accident.
  • beautiful weather - rain, sun.
  • a homeless.
 
Hi Water…if we pray according to the rules of The Church which constitutes “to pray always” as in my OP, we can be assured that we will grow spiritually. It wont happen overnight short of the miraculous…but one day, we look back and see how we have changed and grown, what Grace has wrought in us.

I dont have a car but I can recall long periods passing without anything but God on my mind - a regular anxious Martha about many things, it has changed now - as you have shared that you have changed. I was in our large shopping centre today and as I walked towards the bus stop, I thought: “Every single one of these people God loves as an individual as the unique person they are - He dances for the joy of them”…and for a brief passing moment I saw them in a different way than the usual. Maybe one day that brief passing moment will become moments…and perhaps one day even a stable state of mind. Grace works with nature and that is a wondrous miracle everywhere we often overlook.

The mere fact we can in thought verbalize the word “God” or “Jesus” etc. in a positive way is a great Grace indeed.

Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut, Water…Blessings with Peace and Joy…regards…Barb:)
 
For the record, while I don’t put a pebble in my shoe I do wear a wristband (you know those stretchy ones that promote different causes? Mine is a World Youth Day '08 band).

I use it as a reminder - every time I see it I say an aspiration. Put it on my right hand since I’m right handed, sos I see it a lot!
 
Praying the daily offering prayer each morning also makes our entire day a prayer – our work, our prayers, our joys, our sufferings.
 
LilyM said:
For the record, while I don’t put a pebble in my shoe I do wear a wristband (you know those stretchy ones that promote different causes? Mine is a World Youth Day '08 band).

I use it as a reminder - every time I see it I say an aspiration. Put it on my right hand since I’m right handed, sos I see it a lot!
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That is another good way to remind oneself!

I thought of another one. I wear my watch with the face outwards, if I turned it inwards, it would annoy me no end but it would remind me daily of the special things I want to pray about.🙂

Blessings with Joyful Peace …Barb:)
 
Didi said:
Praying the daily offering prayer each morning also makes our entire day a prayer – our work, our prayers, our joys, our sufferings.
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Good and important (name removed by moderator)ut, Didi!
I’ve got into the habit of saying the Morning Offering as soon as I wake…

O Jesus, through the Most Pure Heart of Mary, I offer to You all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Divine Heart.
O Jesus who for love of me did bear Your cross to Calvary, in Your Sweet Mercy, please grant to me the Grace to suffer and to die for Thee.

The nuns at school had us pray the above every morning and it is a habit with me now and one I am grateful for, amongst many things from the nuns that taught me.

Blessings, Peace and Joy - Barb:)
(The second part of the Morning Offering is from The Stations of The Cross prayers)
 
Your post about New Advent is indeed very good, Barb.
And all of you who replyed have expressed well!

My personal favorite practice is the “Practice of the Presence of God” advocated by Brother Lawrence, and the devotion of our daily lives to God as the Little Way of St. Therese.

Prayer is communication with God, the lifting up of our hearts to the Lord.

If we are aware of the closeness of God, the constant presence of his being with us, we could naturally engage in a conversation with Him all the time. This conversation does not have to be verbal. Our consciousness of the togetherness with God is a prayer. Our loving gaze on Him is a prayer. The performing of our duties and the actions of the love of our neighbors is a prayer. The whisper of “I love you Lord!” is a prayer.

Below is one of my favorite Bible quotes.
“Rejoice always, never cease praying, render constant thanks; such is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17
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Let’s rejoice in the Lord, pray always and be thankful all the time.

With you, today, my friends!.
 
I love the pebble, the wristband, and the watch idea. Also the
one about putting something out of place in your house.

I’m using something right now to help me remember to pray
for someone with diabetes. I gave up candy even though it’s
not lent. When I really want it (especially dark chocolate, yum!)
I remember to pray really good. I am resolved not to eat candy
until this person agrees to go to the doctor.
 
InLight247 said:
Your post about New Advent is indeed very good, Barb.
And all of you who replyed have expressed well!

My personal favorite practice is the “Practice of the Presence of God” advocated by Brother Lawrence, and the devotion of our daily lives to God as the Little Way of St. Therese.

Prayer is communication with God, the lifting up of our hearts to the Lord.

If we are aware of the closeness of God, the constant presence of his being with us, we could naturally engage in a conversation with Him all the time. This conversation does not have to be verbal. Our consciousness of the togetherness with God is a prayer. Our loving gaze on Him is a prayer. The performing of our duties and the actions of the love of our neighbors is a prayer. The whisper of “I love you Lord!” is a prayer.

Below is one of my favorite Bible quotes.

Let’s rejoice in the Lord, pray always and be thankful all the time.

With you, today, my friends!.
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Hi again InLight:wave: …thank you too for the great (name removed by moderator)ut!
Prayer is communication with God, the lifting up of our hearts to the Lord.

If we are aware of the closeness of God, the constant presence of his being with us, we could naturally engage in a conversation with Him all the time. This conversation does not have to be verbal. Our consciousness of the togetherness with God is a prayer. Our loving gaze on Him is a prayer. The performing of our duties and the actions of the love of our neighbors is a prayer. The whisper of “I love you Lord!” is a prayer.
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Indeed Prayer as St. Therese underscored is simply to raise one’s mind and heart to God in whichever way The Holy Spirit moves us.

The constant awareness or realization of The Lord’s Presence always, I think brings with it it’s own movement in a being drawn into very simple attention/consciousness/awareness which at times can be loving conversation … such has been given many descriptions and movements in the various classical and other works of spirituality - in fact with such variety of nouns, verbs and adverbs that it could be confusing. Certainly when I was first introduced to the classics, I was totally confused as to what they were all ‘on about’. I was in a Convent at the time and my director/confessor had me reading The Imitation of Christ during my prayer time which struck me as entirely rude to read while being with Our Lord in The Blessed Sacrament…but I obeyed and become totally confused about prayer and other matters. This is not to assert that one should not read during prayer time. If I find nowadays I am distracted totally and finding it impossible to recollect during my Prayer Time, then I will read.

The essence is simplicity. This does not preclude all other methods of praying…whatever The Holy Spirit inspires. Classical writers for sure do stress that one should not cling to any one method of prayer. The other point is to be content to walk if walking is where I am at, no matter where I was at, or hope to be at…and most of all not to try to run before I can walk. I hope that makes sense! St. Teresa of Avila points out that the person who has advanced no further than reciting the Our Father can be drawn into perfect contemplation. The key word is “drawn”…Our Father, knowing and seeing our needs knows how to meet them, no matter what I may think I need or what I may want - in this is God’s Will and God’s Will is all: “may Thy Will be done on earth ( or oneself) as it is in Heaven”. Some of our great and endearing saints have not been drawn along the path of the contemplative and the advancement in prayer on that path. Can’t think of any just offhand, but will dig them up (scuse pun!😃 ) if anyone would like their names. In fact the greatest advancement transcending all other ‘advancement’ no matter how seemingly lofty and ‘advanced’, is loving obedience and joy in God’s Will and loving detached from what that Divine Will may be.
This conversation does not have to be verbal. Our consciousness of the togetherness with God is a prayer. Our loving gaze on Him is a prayer. The performing of our duties and the actions of the love of our neighbors is a prayer. The whisper of “I love you Lord!” is a prayer.
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Very important and excellent points!

I have found in New Advent some really simple descriptions of what can be written about in most complex ways - I will be posting these over a period of time and as each thread exhausts itself I will post the new thread. I am not too sure, relying on my memory, how many subjects in New Advent I did take note of for thread purposes. I will be posting next in a new thread, New Advent on The Prayerof Quiet, or extracts from that entry.

Thanks again for the great (name removed by moderator)ut, InLight!

I have learnt things from this thread. Thank you all!🙂

Peace with Joy …regards…Barb:)
 
If I was to see my daughter with a rock in her shoe to remind her to pray I would take off her shoe, wash her foot, soothe her foot and dress it and put back her shoe and wait for it to heal and then I would say to her ‘Wear a Crucifix and touch it often and thank Jesus that He did not make you with a rock in your shoe; God will send you the cross and you need not create them’ Then she would ask me ‘How will I remember to pray always?’ and I will tell her:

‘Everytime you breathe in, pray and everytime you breathe out, pray because prayer is to be as natural as breathing and to be all of your life.Make this your habit of prayer to pray always in all you do and ask God to give you the grace to make it your habit’

This habit will start slowly as all good things do as nothing good is won easily; she will sometimes drift and fail, but in striving in this habit it will soon become natural by God’s grace.

In the Living Prayer of my life
 
How wonderful and blest to have a Mum who instructs her child in our Faith and sprituality - a process of formation - and takes into account her tender years. God be with you both.
I used to know a child who would try to sleep on the bare cold floor even in winter as a pentitential practise. If their Mum had found out, she would have had a heart attack of horror. Not that this child ever managed the whole night, and would get upset over it. Childhood amongst many things, can be a very funny time (in places) to look back on. Children are delightful…and can be cruel to each other at times too. We have to protect them, all of them, with all we have available - they are so precious and so vulnerable. Without the active protection of adults and society, they are in the main totally vulnerable and unprotected. Many have had quite horrific childhoods.
St. Paul to the Corinthians Chapter 13 - 11 And when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.
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I doubt very much a small stone or pebble in the shoe of an adult would do harm, just annoy. . If it was doing harm, then it should be removed. Self harm of any kind was not at all the concept I didn’t think behind the suggestion in the post and it was meant for adults only - It is meant to be purely and simply a reminder, not self abuse. I would never suggest a child should use such an action, even as a reminder, as it would give entirely the wrong concept to a young mind, or run the risk of doing so. In explaining something to children and thinking one has got through ok, I can recall my son (now 42yrs.) and then deeply religious, coming out with outlandish statements which indicated I had not got through at all and he had things all upside down. The trouble is one can explain something to a child…and then they go off and add their own thinking to what had been said:confused:
This habit will start slowly as all good things do as nothing good is won easily; she will sometimes drift and fail, but in striving in this habit it will soon become natural by God’s grace.
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Amen. Virtue, all of it, is a lifelong quest with Grace.

Blessings with Joyful Peace…Barb:)
 
Hi Barb, greetings to ‘Down Under’😃 I hope your day is grace-filled.

If a person was 5 or 50 years old I will still take off their shoe, remove the rock and do and say exactly as I would for my daughter.

We need not create crosses, Jesus will allow them as He sees fit in His wisdom.

This weekend I spent the whole day in the emergency room with my brother. He suffered a great deal and thank God is on the mend, however that cross came uninvited as the cross always does unless the soul is receptive and willing to watch for the approach of the cross, which I have noticed, tends not to come and then the lack of the cross becomes a cross for that soul.

As you say, it all takes a life time, so my best advice is to persevere in all moderation without using any extreme, to pray always, to pray unceasingly and make it a firm resolve and ask Jesus to grant every grace that the soul may always be united to Him in prayer.

In the Living Prayer of my life
 
My apologies to the two Senior members that were “put off” by my suggestions about the pebble. In the future I will keep my spirituality to my self. Thank you and good-bye.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.
 
Quoting Blessed Star:
Hi Barb, greetings to ‘Down Under’😃 I hope your day is grace-filled.
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Thanks BS…At 62 years of age and having been a dreadfully heavy smoker just under a year ago since I gave it up…my figuring is that every new day is a great Grace indeed…We have massive flooding in the north east of South Australia and while we have severe storms this time of year. This is really massive. The storm cells are moving very slowly eastwards and so we are expecting further massive flooding through the night towards Broken Hill which is near on our border to New South Wales. We also are facing a dreadfully dangerous fire season come Summer. Spring here now.
I hear in California your way that there are dreadful bushfires with quarter million people displaced. The winds are causing really big problems with the governor…Schwarternegggggarrr something - the ex actor asking for assistance and last I hear the National Guard are on the way. There are 11,5000approx firefighters fighting the fires without making much of an impression.
I bet you didn’t expect all that in a reponse to simple “How are you?”😃 I was a bit shook up for others with our news.

I hope that your days too are grace-filled. Amen.🙂

We both have tremendous problems on our doorstep and praying much…Please keep in mind too our coming Federal Election in November. Whichever party assumes government and there are two options only really, we are in for at some point a change in our Prime Minister. This could affect our involvement in Iraq. It is hard to tell really. Someone said the trouble with elections is that you need to vote in a politician.😃 …this is going to be a very close election although the polls aren’t saying that. And they have never ever been reliable really. I dont know why such a media fuss here is made over poll results.
This weekend I spent the whole day in the emergency room with my brother. He suffered a great deal and thank God is on the mend, however that cross came uninvited as the cross always does unless the soul is receptive and willing to watch for the approach of the cross, which I have noticed, tends not to come and then the lack of the cross becomes a cross for that soul.
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I will be keeping your brother in prayer. Thank goodness the emergency was not dreadfully serious, well at least I hope and that he will recover ok in every way.
As you say, it all takes a life time, so my best advice is to persevere in all moderation without using any extreme, to pray always, to pray unceasingly and make it a firm resolve and ask Jesus to grant every grace that the soul may always be united to Him in prayer.
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Amen! I am all for moderation and common sense and prayer with trust in Jesus always and in all circumstances…In some form, to some degree, The Cross is always with us…

Blessings BS and with Peace and Joy…and to all!..Barb:)
 
mangy_dog said:
My apologies to the two Senior members that were “put off” by my suggestions about the pebble. In the future I will keep my spirituality to my self. Thank you and good-bye.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.
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Heck!..Apologies, MD - no way did I mean to upset you. I thought your idea of the pebble in the shoe was a good idea …Please dont be upset and continue to post. It is not always possible to agree (not that I disageed) in exchanging concepts and ideas - and hey, that is ok. Also, what may work for one does not necessarily thereby mean it works for another or for all.

Apologies again for any offence:o …

And may The Peace of The Lord be with you too always - and with Joy…Barb:)’
PS - the various gradings (example: “Senior Member”) is simply based on the number of posts posted since joining. Just in case you did not know.🙂 …insofar as I know anyway.
 
mangy_dog said:
My apologies to the two Senior members that were “put off” by my suggestions about the pebble. In the future I will keep my spirituality to my self. Thank you and good-bye.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.
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Oh dear, that’s a strong reaction. I’m sorry you feel so strongly, no offense was meant.

I hope everything is alright in life and I hope you have a good day.

In the Living Prayer of my life
 
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