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Aeden
Guest
I’m just curious here. I know that we are supposed to try to eliminate distractions before praying so that we can concentrate on praying to God, but is it sinful for your mind to wander during prayer?
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1_with_God
Guest
No, it is not a sin, we just don’t give into the thoughts and continue with our prayers.
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Cricket123
Guest
No.
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Joe_5859
Guest
Having your mind “wander” is usually an involuntary thing. It wouldn’t be a sin. At worst, it’s an imperfection.
That said, on the road to perfection, we certainly want to do our best to minimize the distractions and keep our eyes fixed on Christ. To that end, it’s usually best to try ignoring those random thoughts that distract us. If we try to engage them or beat ourselves up over them, then they usually only succeed in distracting us even more.
That said, on the road to perfection, we certainly want to do our best to minimize the distractions and keep our eyes fixed on Christ. To that end, it’s usually best to try ignoring those random thoughts that distract us. If we try to engage them or beat ourselves up over them, then they usually only succeed in distracting us even more.
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Polycarp1
Guest
VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 12, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says that there is no such thing as a superfluous or useless prayer since not even one of them is lost to God…as he continued his catechesis on prayer in the book of Revelation. He analyzed the three symbols found in Chapters 4 and 5…
“By raising our gaze to God’s heaven in a constant relationship with Christ, by opening our hearts and our minds to him in personal and communal prayer, we learn to see things in a new way and to grasp their truest meaning,” the Holy Father said. “Prayer is like an open window that allows us to keep our gaze turned toward God, not only for the purpose of reminding us of the goal toward which we are directed, but also to allow the will of God to illumine our earthly journey and to help us to live it with intensity and commitment.”
…He noted: “Therefore, the Lamb opens the four first seals of the book, and the Church sees the world in which it is inserted, a world in which various negative elements exist. There the evils that man commits, such as violence, which comes from the desire to possess, to prevail against one another to the point of killing one another (second seal); or injustice, as men fail to respect the laws that are given them (third seal). To these are added the evils that man must undergo, such as death, hunger and sickness (fourth seal).”
Even if faced with such realities, the Pope continued, “the ecclesial community is invited to never lose hope, to believe firmly that the apparent omnipotence of the Evil One collides with the true omnipotence, which is God’s.”
Benedict also spoke of the symbolism in the angel holding a golden censer in which he continually places grains of incense, “i.e. our prayers, whose sweet aroma is offered together with the prayers that rise before God” (Revelation 8:1-4).
This, the Pope said, "is a symbolism that tells us how all of our prayers – with all the limits, difficulty, poverty, aridity and imperfections they may have – are as it were purified and reach the heart of God. We must be certain, therefore, that there are no superfluous, useless prayers; not one of them is lost. And they find a response – even if it is oftentimes mysterious – because God is Love and infinite Mercy."
When Revelation speaks of the angel taking the censer and throwing it to earth, this image, according to the Pontiff, “signifies that God is not indifferent to our prayers; he intervenes and makes his power felt and his voice heard on the earth, he makes the systems of Evil tremble and disrupts them.”
…“Often, when faced with evil, we feel incapable of doing anything, but prayer is the first and most effective response that we can give and that strengthens our daily commitment to spreading goodness,” he said. “The power of God makes our weakness fruitful.”
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PennyinCanada
Guest
When our mind wanders and we make an effort to come back to praying, the effort has more merit for us than if praying was easy and a delight.
It’s kind of like loving those who love us, what merit is that? Loving your neighbor that you don’t especially like, now there’s gain in merit!
I find during Liturgy that my eyes can wander and notice little girls with pretty dresses (how cute is that??) or someone did their hair so nice today, etc. The remedy for me is to close my eyes to help my mind focus on the words.
It’s kind of like loving those who love us, what merit is that? Loving your neighbor that you don’t especially like, now there’s gain in merit!
I find during Liturgy that my eyes can wander and notice little girls with pretty dresses (how cute is that??) or someone did their hair so nice today, etc. The remedy for me is to close my eyes to help my mind focus on the words.
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