Lifeless routine in prayer

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Trevelyan

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I pray daily - including the Liturgy of the Hours & Eucharist most mornings, but I find that my personal prayer is a “lifeless routine”.

I have a fair list of people to pray for daily, but it’s like it’s just a matter of routinely getting the same words prayed each day: e.g. “O Lord please bless … and … etc etc.”

So:
→ Do you think it would be better just to put my efforts into praying the Liturgy of the Hours, say, 3 or 5 times a day? (Surely LoH is far more efficacious prayer?)

I wouldn’t want to abandon prayer, ever, but it feels to me that currently I’m not really spending time with God.
Should I just pray for all the people on my list like this:
“Lord, bless A, B, C, D, … X, Y and Z. Amen.”?

I think of how the disciples asked: “Lord, teach us how to pray” and Jesus taught them “Our Father…” It seems so SIMPLE & not wordy! And: “Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things…”

And St Benedict said:
And let us be assured that it is not in many words, but in the purity of heart and tears of compunction that we are heard. For this reason prayer ought to be short and pure, unless, perhaps it is lengthened by the inspiration of divine grace.
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Any thoughts or ideas or help :confused: ?
 
One thing I’d like to do before doing my prayers is that I meditate on my intentions, or just go over my concerns in general to the Lord. Sometimes even a brief expression of thanksgiving. It helps focus on my day, and what I try to strive for in my prayer life, and in a way, it does bring me closer to God. I feel like I’m talking to him from the heart.
 
Hi - you have a good routine in prayer and there is probably a good reason why you intitially started it so don’t go changing it in a hurry 😉

As well as what you are doing, try and tell God how you feel about things - for example, in prayer, tell him about this very problem you have in detail. A father or mother loves to hear the stories of thier children as they come home from school and so I believe our Hevenly Father does too.

The St Benedict quote is great!

Luke
 
Do you have a spiritual director? If not, is one available?

Maybe you are being called to a deeper form of prayer, specifically contemplative prayer. Technically “contemplative” is not a prayer form, but a gift from God – whereas the “forms” are really just invitations to this kind of prayer.

Lectio Divina is an example of a prayer form that spans all three types the CCC talks about: vocal, meditative, and contemplative prayer. This has been a monastic practice for many years, but is not well known in mainstream active religious and laity.

See the CCC 2697-2724 about Christian prayer forms; you might just find something it in that speaks to you! 🙂

Alan
 
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AlanFromWichita:
Do you have a spiritual director? If not, is one available?

Maybe you are being called to a deeper form of prayer, specifically contemplative prayer. Technically “contemplative” is not a prayer form, but a gift from God – whereas the “forms” are really just invitations to this kind of prayer.

Lectio Divina is an example of a prayer form that spans all three types the CCC talks about: vocal, meditative, and contemplative prayer. This has been a monastic practice for many years, but is not well known in mainstream active religious and laity.

See the CCC 2697-2724 about Christian prayer forms; you might just find something it in that speaks to you! 🙂

Alan
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I agree - it does seem as if you may be called to deepen your prayer life. I disagree about about Lectio Divina not being well-known though - try googling it some time! By the way I’m very interested in it myself - finding it a bit hard though, there don’t seem to be any groups in my area that practice it, so I’ll have to read up and slowly feel my way into it.
 
When my mother was diagnosed with cancer, I searched the Scriptures for everything I could learn about prayer and healing.

You ought to take some time to do this! Use a Bible concordance and prayerfully read all the Scriptures on “prayer”…

(When I say, “prayerfully read” … I simply mean, ask the Lord to open the eyes of your heart that you might learn what He has to teach you about prayer.)

The Lord’s Prayer is a sample prayer, beautifully spoken by the Son of God to teach us how to pray…

If you were to break it down you’d notice the following:

Our Father,
Who are in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name!
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven

JESUS INSTRUCTS US TO FIRST
ADORE THE LORD—
PRAISE Him and worship Him in thanksgiving, and submit to His mighty, sovereignty.

Give us this day
Our daily bread

REQUEST of Him your daily needs
SUPPLICATIONS

And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us
(or forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors)

CONFESS your sins

Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from all evil

ASK for PROTECTION from the evil one’s schemes

For thine is the kingdom
the power, and the glory
forever and ever,

YIELD to Him
Submit to Him that He might receive the glory.

Amen
SO BE IT – that is, let it be so!

Some wonderful reminders to help you;

Use the acronym:
**
P - R - A - Y**
**
Praise ** Him

Reconcilation – confess and be reconciled to Him in your heart

**Ask ** for the things you have need of
**
Yield ** – that is submit your requests before Him and trust Him to deal with all that you have asked.

Another one that some have found easy to remember:

A - C - T - S

**Adoration ** – speak out of your heart words of praise and adoration

Confession – stand before Him with an honest and humble heart and confess your sins before Him…ask Him to help you to have a clean heart.
**
Thanksgiving** – Thank Him for His mighty work and faithfulness to help you in your weakness.
**
Supplications** – He knows what we need before we ask, so pray “Lord, I know that you know what I need.” Then speak of things that are on your heart…needs of your own, needs of others in your life. Especially ask Him to help you to SURRENDER and TRUST Him with all your needs.

I hope this will be of help to you!
D.
 
I find music to be very helpful in my prayers. I’ll put on a CD of soft instrumental music as background for when I’m sitting quietly with the Lord, or beautiful hymns I can sing along with as I go about my day.:whistle:
 
Just another thought to challenge all who read this:

Did you know Jesus commanded us to Pray Ceaselessly?

This idea really challenged me, and now my habit is to
“PRAY AT EVERY THOUGHT of things/people.”

I can be doing dishes, and lifting someone up to the Lord.
I can be changing a diaper and praying fervently for a friend in need.
If I can’t get someone off my mind, or they pop into a dream unexpectedly, I pray for that person.

We should be walking prayer machines because this is how we please God! To always be “on the job” for Him in behalf of others.

What a challenge! It’s been incredible to watch Him answer those on-the-go prayers, though!

And another thing – I’ve learned:
IF BEING A PARENT DOES NOT IMPROVE YOUR PRAYER LIFE…you got BIG troubles ahead!

🙂

God Bless You All!
D.
 
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Doreen:
Just another thought to challenge all who read this:

Did you know Jesus commanded us to Pray Ceaselessly?

This idea really challenged me, and now my habit is to
“PRAY AT EVERY THOUGHT of things/people.”

I can be doing dishes, and lifting someone up to the Lord.
I can be changing a diaper and praying fervently for a friend in need.
If I can’t get someone off my mind, or they pop into a dream unexpectedly, I pray for that person.

We should be walking prayer machines because this is how we please God! To always be “on the job” for Him in behalf of others.

What a challenge! It’s been incredible to watch Him answer those on-the-go prayers, though!

And another thing – I’ve learned:
IF BEING A PARENT DOES NOT IMPROVE YOUR PRAYER LIFE…you got BIG troubles ahead!

🙂

God Bless You All!
D.
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:amen:
 
O Jesus,
through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
I offer You my prayers, works,
joys and sufferings
of this day for all the intentions
of Your Sacred Heart,
in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
throughout the world,
in reparation for my sins,
for the intentions of all my relatives and friends,
and in particular
for the intentions of the Holy Father.

Amen.

This prayer has numerous variations, but the main idea is to start your day giving to God everything you may encounter during the upcoming day. However, in addition, we can always start our day out with mass whenever possible. It is the greatest form of prayer I know, along witht the Liturgy of the Hours.
Also if you find Eucharistic adoration available in your community, try it you may like that form of prayer as well. It is good to Praise God always as the other repliers have mentioned.

The Greatest commandment to love God with your whole self, heart mind and soul and to love others as you love yourself.
The best way to love God…is to pray always!
 
Along with all the fine suggestions, I’d just like to add that dryness in prayer doesn’t always denote a problem. Sometimes God wants us to experience the dryness of the desert. For St. Therese it drove her to love God for his sake alone and to rely completely on the love of Jesus. So, don’t think of it as a problem you have to solve, no matter what you decide to do about your prayer routine, but think of it as the desert in which God deprives us of sensible pleasure in prayer in order to get us to let go of all else and think of him alone.
 
Today for the first time I felt the urge to pop along to Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for half an hour before Mass, and just spending time in that beautiful quiet old church with God was wonderful. So was getting out of the Aussie summer heat! I’m going to try to go a lot more often now.
 
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Trevelyan:
I pray daily - including the Liturgy of the Hours & Eucharist most mornings, but I find that my personal prayer is a “lifeless routine”.
→ Do you think it would be better just to put my efforts into praying the Liturgy of the Hours, say, 3 or 5 times a day? (Surely LoH is far more efficacious prayer?)
?
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in the first place this question should be posed to your spiritual director.
are you faithful in prayer? that is the important question, not whether it has become dry or lifeless. it has life if you are faithful, regardless of whether or not you feel like it. The life comes from God, not from you our your practices.
Make your routine simple, morning and evening prayer with LOTH. During the intercessions merely add " and all the people I have been asked to pray for, especially so and so (the newest request)". At our oblate meetings we list and record each others intentions, and pray for them daily using that formula, keeping the list in back of the prayerbook.

don’t add or multiply prayer demands on yourself beyond that unless it comes from a definite desire to do so, endorsed by your spiritual director. Faithfulness is the measure of success, not satisfaction, sentiment, emotion or feeling of fulfillment.
 
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