Pointless praying when angry

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Interesting. How do you pray while you are angry?

I know we have to go to school or work even if we don’t like it.

But praying? Would not you want yo address that anger, like scripture says, don’t let the sun down in your anger?

Praying is one of the things we do spiritually, but it is not the only one.

We need also to get our life and our disposition in order so that what we communicate with God is sincere and from the heart.

Of course, anger is an emotion. Some people can pray while they are angry. So it is interesting and probably something to learn here.
 
Our parish priest said that while we’re praying, some distracting thoughts are worth our attention; they are there precisely because they are something we need to be praying about! Why not pray a Rosary to ask Our Lady’s help in ending the angry thoughts and coming to a place of peace in your heart?
 
I would say that doing some kind of physical activity before praying would be good to “burn off some steam”. Go outdoors for a walk or run, chop wood or whatever to get the oxygen moving in your body as well as your brain. It gives us something else to focus on for a while and feelings often change after some kind of physical activity. I have noticed it very clearly during all the years I have been teaching.
 
Some great posts. I myself can find it hard to pray.
Especially the Rosary.
 
The Rosary was difficult for me for various reasons. I used to watch and pray along with the International Rosary on EWTN, this got me started. But, once I was determined to a daily commitment to saying it, it became the best part of my day. I would get to the third mystery and lament a little that I was going to be finished soon! (I started saying it in my thirties, but made a 54 day novena a couple of years ago. I’m almost 50 now. I wish I had started a daily rosary in my childhood. I encouraged my kids to say the rosary. I think it would have been a good idea that I gathered them for a family rosary. I didn’t, but yet they say it!
 
Nelka said:
When I prayed the Rosary I was very angry about things (not about faith stuff) and realised I couldn’t meditate on the mysteries I just focused on what made me angry and couldn’t stop.

How do some people just switch off and others cannot?

Thanks.
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Pray to ask God’s blessing on the person or people you’re angry with.
Keep doing that till the anger cools; then go back to praying over other things.
 
Reuben_J said:
Interesting. How do you pray while you are angry?..

But praying? Would not you want yo address that anger, like scripture says, don’t let the sun down in your anger?..

We need also to get our life and our disposition in order so that what we communicate with God is sincere and from the heart.
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Of course it is better if we are not angry when we pray, but if we are angry I think it is better to pray anyway than too think, “I am too angry, I should not pray now.”

I don’t think we need to focus too much on aiming to get ourselves into a ‘perfect’ disposition for prayer. I think we should avoid overthinking such things, or else we could end up tying ourselves on knots over it. Just get on with it and start praying. Better to pray while angry than to not pray that day because you were angry.
 
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Lost4words said:
Some great posts. I myself can find it hard to pray.

Especially the Rosary.
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Just get out a set of Rosary beads and start praying. It doesn’t matter whether you feel you are getting anything out of it, that’s not really the point. Don’t worry that you aren’t saying it well enough, just do it. Discipline yourself to do it daily, it’s only 10 to 15 minutes afterall.
 
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There was a book recommended to me called “the Grief Recovery Handbook”. It might be helpful.
 
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