No place to pray

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I work in the Financial District of San Francisco. Not only is this a very secular and liberal city, but it’s crowded. I can’t find a place to pray privately during breaks. Everywhere I go, I’m surrounded by people. I found an out-of-the-way place, but then a security guard told me it was off limits (there was no sign indicating this). I go by bus, so I can’t go to a church. No one at work knows I’m Catholic, so that’s out. And I can’t exactly monopolize the public bathrooms.

So it seems I’m left either praying with dozens of pagans around or waiting until I get home, and I can’t do either.

Anyone have a way out?
 
Well, I do believe that God doesn’t present us with impossible situations…difficult yes, but impossible no.

Here are some suggestions:

Pray using short prayers such as “Lord I know you are here in this setting with these people around me
right now, bless them and me”
Code: 
                                              "Sacred Heart of Jesus I love You and trust You."      etc., etc,
Whether you drive yourself to work or use public transportation, that can be a time to pray as well. If you drive you can have a Rosary CD to pray along with…if you are in public transportation you can develop the habit of praying while “resting your eyes”.

Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you further.

Peace!
 
Praying for you from today’s Liturgy of the Hours:

Short reading Isaiah 56:7 ©
I will bring them to my holy mountain. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their holocausts and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.

Short Responsory
The Lord is great, and greatly to be praised.
– The Lord is great, and greatly to be praised.
In the city of our God, on his holy mountain.
– The Lord is great, and greatly to be praised.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– The Lord is great, and greatly to be praised.

Canticle Benedictus
The Messiah and his forerunner
‘Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. ‘Today salvation has come to this house.’

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
for he has come to his people and brought about their redemption. …

Prayers and Intercessions
We are living stones, built on the foundation of Christ, the chosen cornerstone. We pray to the almighty Father for his beloved Church and we proclaim our faith in her, saying:
– This is the house of God and the door to heaven.

…
 
Nothing says you have to be alone to pray. You can pray on the bus to and from work. You can pray while sitting on a bench waiting for a bus. You can pray at lunch while eating. Put some meditative music or even an audio rosary on an iPod or MP3 player and stick in headphones to drown out other noise and pray silently. Prayers can be said silently inside your head. They do not have to be spoken aloud, so no one will even know you are praying.
 
Do you work in an office or cubicle? I work in a cubicle and usually pray and read Scripture or a devotional book in my cubicle during my lunch break. I truly sympathize with your plight. It can be quite difficult to find a quiet, private place for prayer in the business district of a large metropolitan area.

I wish I had a more helpful response. May God richly bless you as you seek to draw nearer to Him!
 
You could download the free podcast from “pray-as-you-go.org” which is a daily scripture, some reflection and music. It’s available for Mon-Fri daily readings. You could listen to this to or from work as you commute.

While at work, on break, etc., you could try keeping it simple if you feel the need.
If you’re thankful, just close your eyes and think “Thanks Lord!”
If you’re stressed, think “Wow, Lord” (He gets it)

You get the idea.

Carve out a place and a time for you and God. That is what He wishes, to connect. I don’t think He is a word counter.

By the way, I think the other poster’s idea of praying for those around you is a great suggestion too!

Peace.
 
even if you have to pray with distractions, the important thing is just to try,
and if you just can’t find a way to get some peace for prayers, then make a point of asking God to find a place for you,

other than that, i really can’t think of any way for you to find a quiet place to pray, except to just take advantage of the time you do have at home, even if it’s during the time you’re getting ready, like when you take a shower or make your breakfast or whatever else, and it’s actually a good thing to pray while you’re doing those things, although it’s also important to begin your morning prayers as soon as you wake up, but you just do what you can, and ask God to help you.
 
I’m also in a super secular crowded city. I find that what helps cure the distraction a lot is to first pray for all the people around me, just offer some of my suffering / work for them bc so many of them don’t know Christ. Then I pray a lot in my head. I am getting really good at doing the rosary, meditating well on the mysteries, all in my head, while being around other people. lol!
 
They’re not cheap, but you could get some noise blocking headphones which I saw advertised somewheres a while ago. They’re supposed to block out all sound.

I’ll keep you in my prayers. You have my sympathy, too. I don’t care for crowds or noise.

Many blessings.
 
crenfro said:
They’re not cheap, but you could get some noise blocking headphones which I saw advertised somewheres a while ago. They’re supposed to block out all sound.

I’ll keep you in my prayers. You have my sympathy, too. I don’t care for crowds or noise.

Many blessings.
Click to expand...
You can noise cancelling headphones at walmart.com or any stereo place (Radio Shack, Best Buy or your local stereo/tv place) I bought mine for around $30.00 and they work great for me.
 
My school/living/work situation does not offer me an alone time to pray unless all of my roommates (4) are out of the apartment…some tricks I’ve learned:

-Get a rosary ring. Some you can wear, others are more bulky. Mine is bulky. I keep it in my coat pocket and use it when walking to the subway, on the bus, etc.
-I work in a city as well. During my lunch break, there is a parish nearby and I’ve gone to the noon mass. There MIGHT be a church. Even if it’s not a catholic church, it may be open and you can pray there alone.
-Take your lunch break late if you are allowed to. There are much fewer people in sandwich shops at 1:00 than 12:00. Over lunch, you can get a table in a corner, put in headphones to signal you don’t want to be bothered, and talk to Jesus. And, when everyone else is out to lunch, the office will be more private. You could even just take lunch at your desk and pray during lunch at your desk.
-At breakfast, I was using a rosary card (it looks like a credit card with bumps in it for the “beads”) and someone came up and talked to me. I sounded like an idiot because they got me out of the “zone” abruptly and I was embarrassed, but I didn’t let it get to me. They didn’t know I was doing because I was being discrete, so they probably just thought I had an awkward personality. That’s ok with me! 😉
-You’re not going to be able to kneel on the ground and whip out your rosary beads and pray out loud, but do what you can.
-Many cities have parks or grassy squares with benches. You can pray softly there.
 
Whenever I use the bus I pray the Rosary. There is something about traffic that makes it meditative for me.

Do you have a park nearby? If that is an option, find a bench and pray.

Don’t worry about other people. Include them in your prayer when you start, that might help you concentrate and not see their presence as impediment.
 
You’re supposed to get a lunch break. And I don’t know what time you have to start work, but this looks like a wonderful place to pray. They have an early morning weekday Mass, and a 12:05 PM Mass every weekday.

oldsaintmarys.org/

It looks like they’re right near your job!

I frequently go to weekday Mass, either during my lunch hour or after work, at a Jesuit run parish downtown. It is one of the great joys of my life.
 
Another thread mentioned masstimes.org, so I looked there and found a church about 10 minutes from my office, and they have daily Mass at 12:10 and 5:15. It’s nice to know I’m not the only Catholic in the District…
 
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