How to pray while working?

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ProdglArchitect

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Hello all.

I’ve been wanting to increase my prayer life recently, and I’ve concluded that I have a large amount of time during the day when I could be praying at work. I work on a computer, it’s pretty non-physical, and often times doesn’t require my full attention.

I’ve thought about praying rosaries while I work, but I’m afraid that it might be being somewhat disrespectful to our Holy Mother since my attention will be divided between the rosary and what I’m working on.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
 
There is a wonderful book about the Ignation Method that was just written the name of the author escapes me it won an award last year. but you pray throughout intervals all day.
 
KP3243 said:
There is a wonderful book about the Ignation Method that was just written the name of the author escapes me it won an award last year. but you pray throughout intervals all day.
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Thank you, I’ll look and see if I can find it.
 
Hello there. I think that praying at work is an excellent idea. I do it all the time, though almost never a rosary or chaplet because I care for babies at a day care and wouldn’t be able to. I am able to pray ejaculatory prayers, both requests and praises to God, such as " Lord, help baby Bryce right now" and " Lilly slept two hours today, praise the Lord." I also try to look for the hidden blessings of the day- there are ALWAYS blessings each day if we look for them- and I mention them to my co-workers. For example “Grace feels so much better now that she pooped- what a blessing!” 😃 The nice thing about ejaculatory prayer is that it’s very much in the moment, honest and short enough that it doesn’t take my attention away from my work at all- instead, it’s woven into my work. Maybe a co-worker had a sleepless night so I say “Give Mary energy and strength today Lord and grant her rest tonight.”

God bless,

Jennifer 😛
 
One way that I incorporate more prayer into my day is by praying a ‘Hail Mary’ for and add some intention to the end of it every time I wash my hands.
Working in food service, that can mean lots of extra prayers everyday!! 😉
 
You can offer periods of well done work tour Lord for a variety of intentions…offer up tough meetings, cheerful/helpfu/detailed emails, etc. you can greet the guardian angels of people you meet with.
 
is praying the rosary or something while working or in school and such actually disrespectful? I do it all the time…
 
catholicrobot said:
is praying the rosary or something while working or in school and such actually disrespectful? I do it all the time…
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We should do well and focus on what God gives us to do. Except in breaks or while walking or maybe driving I think it’s a good rule to work well while working…you can and should certainly offer that work, and you can maintain a presence of God while working using aspirations.
 
ProdglArchitect said:
Hello all.

I’ve been wanting to increase my prayer life recently, and I’ve concluded that I have a large amount of time during the day when I could be praying at work. I work on a computer, it’s pretty non-physical, and often times doesn’t require my full attention.

I’ve thought about praying rosaries while I work, but I’m afraid that it might be being somewhat disrespectful to our Holy Mother since my attention will be divided between the rosary and what I’m working on.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Click to expand...
Do you pray a morning offering? It’s one way of making everything you do a prayer. Also, practicing the presence of God, imaging Him there with you, can help. Make God your supervisor and work as if it were for Him.

The book Holiness for Housewives (which I gave away so can’t make a specific reference) had this approach. When you are doing laundry do it as though you were doing it for the Holy Family that sort of thing. Giving your full attention to your work with the intention of offering to God can be spiritually fruitful.
 
By faithfully carrying out the duties of our state in life and for the Love of God, this is praying. The Lord knows that it is not possible for human nature to be constantly in a state of praying in the traditional sense, nor does The Lord want this or human nature would be different to what it is. In calling us to a certain state in life with its assistant daily duties, we are fulfilling the Will of God for our lives.
Certainly, the Morning Offering is a conscious dedication of our whole day to The Lord and a highly recommended habit.

The Church recommends that we pray in the traditional sense at least once daily (apart from the Morning Offering prayer) - and probably more than recommends underlining the absolulte necessity of daily prayer and at very least once daily. If we carry out this instruction, one will find that one’s heart and mind quite naturally turns to God many times during the day. And prayer is the raising of heart and mind to God. It is not necessary to perform some sort of devotion such as the Rosary, Chaplet of Mercy etc. to pray - rather quite simply and spontaneously during the day to raise our heart and mind to God even in short aspirations.
The Church, through Pope Benedict, has also recommended highly spiritual direction for lay people also.
It could therefore be said that daily prayer and spiritual direction are a necessity for those, including lay people, who strive to take their Baptismal vocation seriously. Rather than look upon the duties of our state in life as being a ‘wordly necessity’, we should value them as God’s Will for us and to carry out these duties for Love of God.

PS The Rosary and Chaplet of Mercy are valued devotions in The Church but not the only way of praying, nor at times the most practical means of prayer and hence there is no call from God to engage in these devotions at certain times.
 
I pray the Rosary during my morning commute to the Metro station. Constant frustration with congested traffic immediately dissipated because of my focus on prayer. Padre Pio often prayed the Rosary twenty times plus per day while involved in other tasks, including conversations. I find time midday for the Angelus as well. During the Metro ride home, I read the New Testament, National Catholic Register, L’Osservatore Romano (Vatican newspaper), or other religious text. I try to attend daily Mass at the Catholic Information Center in downtown Washington, DC, when my court schedule permits (I’m a lawyer). My day is very much fulfilled when I make time for the Lord, particularly the Eucharist at daily Mass.
 
The Divine Mercy Chaplet is one of my favorites while at work. I find the repetitive prayers easier and less distracting from normal duties. And to you comment on the Rosary Solanus Casey prayed it while driving and he is now venerable, so if the intention is there to grow closer to God how could prayer be wrong.
 
In general, my prayer life that is inter-mixed with work or whatever else tends to be a bit more freeform than a specific set of prayers. My prayer time that is set aside tends to include more reading of scripture, morning or evening prayer (as appropriate) and soon to include the Rosary as I learn it.
 
A simple prayer to be applied continually is one used by the Desert Fathers and brought to the West by St. John Cassian: “Deus in adjutórium meum inténde. Dómine, ad adjuvándum me festína.” O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me. (Ps. 69:2) The prayer was thought to be so special that the Fathers initially taught it only to those deemed eager enough. Pope Saint Gregory the Great incorporated it to the Divine Office of which it is still a part. Relatedly St. Catherine of Siena and St. Rose of Lima used to pray these words repeatedly while St. Alphonsus de Liguori recommends them to be said throughout our daily business and as a special safeguard against temptations.
 
A couple of things I do:

1, Just as I close the door when heading out to work I say the following prayer: “O Jesus together with the most pure heart of Mary, I offer this days days prayers, works, Joys and sufferings for all the intentions of your most sacred heart”. Followed by a hail mary.

2, Say the scripture rosary in the car on the way to work (it’s on a CD) I say that scripture rosary in particular because it almost forces me to focus on the meditations more then saying the “normal” rosary.

3, I work in customer service where I come across customers’ who are usually fired up, upset and sometimes very emotional. Whenever I finish with the customer I make sure I say 3 hail mary’s for them.

4, Angelus prayer at midday and 6.00 pm (although this one I neglect a bit):o

Hope that helps!
 
Develop the practice of living in Gods presence while you are working. That is a prayer. Read - The Practice of the Presence of God by Br Lawrence , free PDF available online.
You could read the whole book in under 2 hours I read it last night, it was very eye opening. You learn how to always be focused on God even while working.

😃
God bless
 
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