My Secret Prayers

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CaptainPrudeman

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I’ve made a habit of praying a Chaplet of Divine Mercy and a set of mysteries of the Rosary daily, for the conversion of a friend. However, I’ve always hidden that fact from my family. I pray the Chaplet in the shower and the Rosary late at night, and if somebody walks in I pretend to be asleep. They’re all Catholic, is not a matter of persecution. It’s almost embarrassing? I guess, would be the right term. Is it wrong to hide my prayers from them? Should I be more open about it?
 
ahh I know that feeling! That’s why when i pray I pray silently.
 
It’s okay to keep prayers private. It’s better than if you went around announcing them.

The only thing wrong would be if you were somehow embarrassed or ashamed to be seen praying because you thought it was uncool to pray. It sounds more like you just don’t want your Catholic family to know you are praying for the particular person, which is understandable - sometimes we don’t want our family involved in all of our relationships.

Maybe at some point you’ll get over this and perhaps even ask your family to join you in praying for the person. It’s good to pray as a family, if you have a family to pray with (I don’t right now).
 
To know that you are praying? I think it is the best thing that can happen to you and to them. Not that you are boasting but to be seen as praying is truly encouraging for a Catholic family. So, even if you are embarrassed about it, think for a second, it does no harm but indeed showing good example to the others.

Of course, you don’t have to tell them who you are praying for if you don’t want to.
 
There was a verse in the Bible about praying secretly in your room maybe you should look it up?
 
Keeping it as private as hiding does not help fulfill the demand on Christians to confess our faith. It’s not like you are in the catacombs during Diocletian’s ruling.
I think you should not keep it a secret from your family. God loves the truth.
 
I would say nearly all my prayers are said in private, outside of Mass and Adoration.

It’s personal, I pray and I’ll pray for you but I don’t need to disclose what my personal conversation with God and Jesus is.
 
You praying for loved ones is very good! I would say, continue praying your secret prayers. God knows them.
 
Your prayer life is your prayer life. If that’s where you need to be right now it’s between you and God.
 
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.”
 
While there are some here bringing the verse from Mathew 6:6 about praying in closed room, I think that is not the issue for the OP. He is ‘embarrassed’ to be known that he is praying, so much so he prayed in the shower or late at night when everybody is sleeping, and that if somebody walks in while he is praying, he would pretend to sleep.

Mathew 6:6 is an exhortation not to show off that one is praying, not that one should hide the fact that one is praying or one is a praying person.

The OP should not be embarrassed that he prays and that his family members know that he prays. In fact it should be the opposite. He should be glad that they know that he is praying, perhaps to encourage them as well about the good habit.

We have a prayer room in our house. When I go in or my wife goes in, the other members of the family know that I am praying (having my quiet time). They kind of getting used to it that even if the phone is ringing, and if it is not urgent, they would ask the caller to call later (after I finish praying).

God bless.
 
I don’t see anything wrong in keeping your prayers private … however, it is always nice to share our faith with our family … so you may do so in other ways … just in conversation.
 
You can pray in secret if you don’t want people to think your are holy, or trying to look holy etc. That’s humility.
But you shouldn’t be ashamed of praying, you should be proud of your faith.
 
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