In my experience, most people use a prayer book of some sort, and follow whatever is written for Morning and Evening prayers, as well as prayers for other occasions (sickness, pre-Communion, etc.).
. The Lord MADE you a one-off personality and He loves you warts and all: He loves to hear what YOU think. And LISTEN for Him, although this requires some personal training as there will be three voices trying to talk to you. One is yourself, so if that voice follows your predictable train of thought you can bet its you. Second is the other fellow: if that voice leaves you feeling uncomfortable or even horrid, resist Him, as James advises, and he will flee. The third is the gentle voice of Our Lord: usually his reply will come from outside right field - way off your train of thought and will ALWAYS be accompanied by an uplifting feeling of peace, love, and often, “why didn’t I think of that!” Our Lord always calls you by your name; the other fellow hates you and it comes across if he tries to impersonate HIS MASTER and speak your name.
Something that draws you near to God. If it don’t work for you, don’t do it or if it works for you do, do it. You will learn with trial and error. My personal prayer rule though I don’t call it a rule in that sense but what I do is just try to focus on the Presence of God. Thats it. No words. For me personally, words are pointless because God does already know what we want/need and for me personally, He isn’t the one that grants them as such but we achieve by working together with each other. So I don’t waste any time with lots of petitions because not only I can’t see where they are going, which is my real basis for not praying with words, but since then, knowing that God already knows and sees what we want and need, he isn’t going to just give, but wants us to work them out amongst each other. So my prayer rule is simple just trying to focus on the Presence of God. Sometimes I feel him by doing so. A few times He has come to me in this way. And sometimes I feel like I fail but try to tell myself God is here. Its taken me 25 years to get to where I am relatively happy about prayer with God and okay I don’t do any of the worded prayers at home but that how it works best for me and yes I didn’t suddenly achieve this though had glimpses in the past but didn’t know what I was doing. But received good guidence that helped get me here only this year so prayer in itself is a life long journey and your need of what style of prayer will change in time. I do remember asking very early on about prayer but the advice was whilst standard, didn’t help me that much where as the place where I was at this year and the support I received helped me enormously because he was able to listen to me and help me find a way I can do where as the priest 25 year ago couldn’t. He just gave an answer that is correct teaching but was unable to help me find my way with it.
Thank you, Rose: that’s exactly my prayer routine and why. Years ago, when I was young in the Spirit, I went to a day of renewal conducted a Catholic priest (sorry, can’t remember his name). During Mass he suddenly called to an old Nun, “stop praying for yourself, Sister, you won’t go to Purgatory - its full up!” I felt guilty, because I often prayed for myself. Suddenly I had a vision of a log jam; the Lord said, “that’s what happens when you pray for yourself, Ian. When you pray for somebody and that somebody prays for someone else and so on until someone eventually prays for you. That way the prayers are like logs floating serenely down the river. As soon as someone prays for himself, there’s a log jam.”
. The other reason I concentrate on the Lord is because I EXPECT Him to answer. Thomas Merton wrote: “For mature Christians prayer becomes a dialogue.” When I pray, I listen for an answer: if one doesn’t come, I leave that one with the Lord and move on to the next. But beware: I have prayed “Lord, please help John, he has no money .” Answer: “Why don’t YOU go and give him some, Ian!” Whoops! And often: “please heal Susie of her depression, Lord.” “You go around and cheer her up, Ian.”
Even more ergonomical are prayer flags: simply write all your prayers on a flag and hoist it in a windy place: every flutter and you’ve done a month’s worth of prayers
and what signs may they be IanGE?I’m 76 and must have said a lorra lorra “Glory Be’s” in my cradle Catholic life. But it was only THIS MORNING that my devotions came to a juddering halt: I could not say “Amen” to “world without end”. Surely the world IS going to end…and soon, by the signs?
Ahh. The translation many eastern catholics use isI’m 76 and must have said a lorra lorra “Glory Be’s” in my cradle Catholic life. But it was only THIS MORNING that my devotions came to a juddering halt: I could not say “Amen” to “world without end”. Surely the world IS going to end…and soon, by the signs?
The monks at the Cistercian monastery near me say
Not my world, Rose: THE world, THE End Times, the last book of the NT, Revelation/Apocalypse, perhaps the most baffling Book in the Bible. Plus other mentions of the end times and the signs of their coming all through the NT. Possibly more Commentaries have tried to unfathom those signs than any other Book of the Bible. Many Christians are convinced that we are living in the end times right now. There are committed Christians here in Swindon who have stocked their attics with tinned food
but most of us are sure that we will be caught up in the rapture and taken upstairs to watch Anti-Christ get his come uppance in Armageddon. "Go on, Michel, give him one!!! MARANATHA!Yes such can be good …but one need not have a spiritual director.
I found this for you: byzcath.org/index.php/resources-mainmenu-63/a-rule-of-prayer