Prayer Distraction and effectiveness

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Pete44

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Often times I catch my mind wandering during prayer. A lot of times the harder I try to concentrate the more my mind wanders to other things. A lot of times I will say the prayer over or restart. I try not to let it frustrate me but honestly it really does!!! Are my prayers still being heard when this happens. Are my Novenas as effective? This is litterally driving me crazy!! :eek:
 
I know this probably isn’t the answer you’re looking for, but I’ve often had the same problem. And the advice I’ve been given by several priests is: “Pray for the thing that is distracting you.”

If the distraction is from God, it means that He is drawing your attention to something you need to be thinking about. If the distraction is from the devil, the best thing you can do is turn it against him and use it for the good. And if it’s from you, then perhaps it’s something you’re subconsciously worried about and taking it to God in prayer may help.

Hope that makes sense…😃
 
That makes sense… but a lot of times its just mindless things. Its like I have spiritual ADD or something
 
Pete44 said:
Often times I catch my mind wandering during prayer. A lot of times the harder I try to concentrate the more my mind wanders to other things. A lot of times I will say the prayer over or restart. I try not to let it frustrate me but honestly it really does!!! Are my prayers still being heard when this happens. Are my Novenas as effective? This is litterally driving me crazy!! :eek:
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Distraction is part and partial of prayer. God allows us to show what sort of spiritual stuff we are made of. He allows this. I’ll say it again, He allows this. He wants to see if you really care or how much you care. Many times people get flustered and give up because prayer is not easy. How sincere are we when we tell Him we love Him. Now’s the chance. We must show our determination all the more to be faithful and obedient when it isn’t easy to do so. At that moment you may wander where is He? No joy, no happy thoughts, no nothing except fighting to keep your mind on what you are doing. That is what He wants to see and pleases Him. If your tired and sleepy, don’t give in but rather dig in and try all the more to please him by returning you mind to what will please Him. That is the moment of grace. Thank Him for your distractions as well as the easy moments. But whatever you do, keep faithful to all your prayer life because it is so important that we either sink or swim. Graces to do good and be faithful come thru prayer. It is the gurder that supports everything.

Just a thought.
 
fred_conty said:
Distraction is part and partial of prayer. God allows us to show what sort of spiritual stuff we are made of. He allows this. I’ll say it again, He allows this. He wants to see if you really care or how much you care. Many times people get flustered and give up because prayer is not easy. How sincere are we when we tell Him we love Him. Now’s the chance. We must show our determination all the more to be faithful and obedient when it isn’t easy to do so. At that moment you may wander where is He? No joy, no happy thoughts, no nothing except fighting to keep your mind on what you are doing. That is what He wants to see and pleases Him. If your tired and sleepy, don’t give in but rather dig in and try all the more to please him by returning you mind to what will please Him. That is the moment of grace. Thank Him for your distractions as well as the easy moments. But whatever you do, keep faithful to all your prayer life because it is so important that we either sink or swim. Graces to do good and be faithful come thru prayer. It is the gurder that supports everything.

Just a thought.
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Very good point. Thank you for sharing that with me. It is exactly what I needed to hear.
 
It may help you to realize that our faculties are comprised of three natures:
Our will
Our memory, including the imagination
Our understanding
When we pray, it would be wonderful if we always understood our words, and held the memory in check against distractions, St. Teresa of Jesus often spoke of her displeasure with the problem of not having all three faculties attentive to God. But note this … when the other two are out in la-la land somewhere with inability to stay focused, the WILL is still praying. God is not displeased when we make the effort to pray, but find ourselves not all together in sync with all of our mental faculties.

Offer your distractions to Him and ask that He bless your efforts and receive your prayer, as rising to Him like incense. We always begin the Divine Office with the words, “God, come to my assistance, Lord, make haste to help me.” In our humanity, we will have difficulty from time to time, but He loves us just the same, and listens to our efforts to unite with Him in prayer. 🙂
 
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