Leading a prayerful life: How do you pray?

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DoubtingKT

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I am hoping to lead a prayerful life! Tapping on the wisdom of the community, I hope to know how each of you personally lead a prayerful life with God?

You can share about anything on the topic of leading a prayerful life! I pray to God that inspired by the faith of the community, the faith of the Church, I may grow in my life to become more faithful in praying to the Lord for Him and for His people. I pray all these through your Most Holy and Precious name, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour. Amen!

Some guiding questions:
How do you pray?
When do you pray?
What makes you pray?
Where do you pray?
How do you cultivate a prayerful life OR integrate praying as a daily routine in your life?
How has a prayerful life changed you?
Why do you pray?

Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Matthew 6:6 “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Luke 6:27-28 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

James 5:16 “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
 
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Thank you @Bungle!
  1. What is the usual way of praying and what do you pray about?
  2. It is quite interesting when you mentioned fear? Fear can be interpreted quite differently for different people. Some people see fear of the Lord as the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). If it is not too personal and uncomfortable for you, what do you mean by fear?
Interesting that you answer each question individually! For the rest of the community, there is no need to answer all the question! Just some guiding question to illustrate your prayer life!
 
Hi.

I pray the most during the night, I do Rosary and sometimes Novena too.

Throughout the day, when I feel ‘something’, e.g joy, sadness, anxiety, I pray like this:
  • say thanks to God
  • share what I feel
  • say sorry for things I’ve done wrongly
  • say my hope to be more [insert here…, usually patient for me]
  • pray for my brother, parents, bf, and friends
I hope to pray more regularly during the day. For now its usually based on my feelings.
 
Thank you funnyfin!

Sometimes, more often than not, we don’t feel like praying! Or at least, if guided by my emotional state, I am feeling negative towards praying (be it angry, frustrated, lazy, etc) at times.

How do you continue to cultivate and lead a prayerful life in face of the ebb and flow of emotions?
 
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We have many rote prayers. “Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be, Oh my Jesus” etc. Slow them down, focusing on each word and its gravity, and make those words an actual conversation rather than simple recitation. Rather than reading them off, speak them as as conversation with those face-to-face in your presence - after all, in a literal (Adoration) or mystical sense (verbal/mental/contemplative) prayer, you are in the presence of those to whom you are praying. In person, which of us would choose to recite prepared comments from memory? That would be (and is) acting, and the root word of acting comes from hypocrite!

Face-to-face, we would not recite from memory, but rather speak from the heart. And so it is with prayer. Speak from the heart. Speak with love.

Other than that, simply developing the habit of prayer is extremely beneficial to offset habits of neglect or sinfulness.
 
How? with faith and humility, never asking for anything for myself unless I am in truly dire straits.
 
When? - First thing in the morning and last thing at night. Walking from my car to work, at Mass, at Adoration, while driving, whenever really just as often as possible.
How? - Liturgy of the Hours, the chaplet of Divine Mercy, the rosary, sometimes using an app, sometimes just mental prayer.
Why? - As a response to God’s grace I guess.
Has it changed me? - Absolutely. And for the better.
 
I like to pray before I go to bed. I love novenas and I will occasionally say the Rosary. I love to spend time in Eucharist Adoration. I pray when I am scared. I say “Jesus I trust in you.” I just have a conversation with God. I say thank you and I’m sorry. I sometimes the Nicene Creed and the Confiteor. The Memorare is one of my go-to prayers. Sometimes, I don’t want to pray,but I make myself.
 
Every morning I begin with the Liturgy of the Hours, Morning Prayer, followed by Centering Prayer.

Day Time Prayer most days

Evening Prayer with my wife, everyday, followed by a prayer to Our Lady of Mt Carmel, then Centering Prayer.

I also try to do spiritual reading and be aware of His presence dwelling within, throughout the day.

I finish with prayer of thanks before bed and ask for a restful night’s sleep

FYI, I’m retired and have more time than in the past when I was working
 
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It’s wonderful that you love to pray!!! It’s hard for me sometimes too, but I also enjoy having a conversation with God. ❤️
 
Some underrated times to pray are when you’re:
  • waiting in line at the supermarket checkout
  • in the waiting room for a sick relative
  • stuck in a traffic jam
    Instead of getting all aggravated at the long wait, why not turn it into a positive by praying the rosary, or even just a few Our Fathers?
 
How do I live a prayerful life with God?
I love praying the Holy Mass!
I love praying the Holy Rosary! On the Hail Mary’s, I especially enjoy substituting the word “fruit” with the name of the mystery, followed by substituting the word “sinners” with the phrase “lack of [the fruit of the mystery]”.
For example: “Hail Mary, full of grace,… Blessed is the Nativity of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary,… Pray for us, who lack joy in poverty, now and at…”

I recently discovered Ninth Crusade on YouTube, who Livestreams the morning and evening prayers, as well as the Liturgy of Catholic Martyrs!

I enjoy developing stronger prayer while singing.

I appreciate prayer time in the car with my wife and kids on the way to work and on road trips.

I enjoy reconciliation and serving on the Perpetual Adoration Team!
 
The article is misleading and CAF has presented misleading information on Centering Prayer for a long time.

Instead of going to the source, Fr Thomas Keating when he was alive, they made presumptions based on third parties which have little or no experience with contemplative prayer.

FYI, I’ve been doing Centering Prayer as taught by Fr Keating, which was originally called “Quiet Prayer,” or “Prayer of Quiet,” as per the Catholic Encyclopedia, for over forty years. Do a search for Quiet Prayer in the 1917 version of the Catholic Encyclopedia at Newadvent and see that it’s far from New Age or Eastern Religion.
 
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