Prayer: in your head or out loud?

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potterygirl

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Okay for anyone to hear you, be it God, Mary, Jesus, or a Saint…does your prayer have to be spoken aloud? you know when you are at home or shopping, driving, etc…

Just wondering as I can say more in my head than when speaking aloud. Maybe I get distracted by the sound of my own voice and forget all the good things I wanted to say aloud.
 
Do both! they are both good and healthy.

God is the only one who can hear mental prayer.
I believe that He allows those saints to hear prayer petitions asked of them for you.
 
In my head. I tend to mutter formal prayers though (Hail Mary, Our Father, etc).
 
Do them standing up (better reception) 👍

It’s good to be tall.
 
heeehee…seeing i am only 5’4" I might slip in a little prayer for 3 more inches! LOL!!! Ahh the desire to be taller! LOL

Thanks you guys…I know that was a silly question but I always wondered about that since a child and felt dumb asking!
~amy
 
Mine varies. When I am talking to our Lord in what seems like casual conversation or simple prayers I’ll do it in my head.

Formal prayers including those to the Blessed Mother, saints, and my guardian angel, I’ll do those for the most part out loud but not always. Just depends. When I don’t say them out loud I’ll ask the Lord to please let whomever it is I am speaking to know 😃
 
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potterygirl:
Okay for anyone to hear you, be it God, Mary, Jesus, or a Saint…does your prayer have to be spoken aloud? you know when you are at home or shopping, driving, etc…

Just wondering as I can say more in my head than when speaking aloud. Maybe I get distracted by the sound of my own voice and forget all the good things I wanted to say aloud.
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I believe prayer from the heart:heart: is the most powerful, in other words, say what you mean and mean what you say !!!
Doesn’t matter what way you say them into yourself or out loud, if you don’t mean them.👋
 
Like many Byzantine Catholics, I have a special devotion to the “Jesus Prayer”…

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!”

…and repeat it often in my head throughout the day.

St. Paul has charged us with the obligation to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). This simple prayer plays a very important part in Eastern worship, both Catholic and Orthodox, as a means of fulfilling St. Paul’s command. The intent is to build up to constant internal repetition of this prayer, to the point where your “heart” takes over and actually prays for you.

This unworthy pilgrim has a looooong way to go to get to that point, but I’m workin’ on it!

I highly recommend running down to Barnes & Noble and picking up a copy of “The Way of a Pilgrim” (yes, that’s where my “name” comes from), an excellent little book, anonymously written many, many years ago, for an easily-read insight into the Eastern practice of “prayer without ceasing!”

a pilgrim
 
a pilgrim:
Like many Byzantine Catholics, I have a special devotion to the “Jesus Prayer”…

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!”

…and repeat it often in my head throughout the day.

St. Paul has charged us with the obligation to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). This simple prayer plays a very important part in Eastern worship, both Catholic and Orthodox, as a means of fulfilling St. Paul’s command. The intent is to build up to constant internal repetition of this prayer, to the point where your “heart” takes over and actually prays for you.

This unworthy pilgrim has a looooong way to go to get to that point, but I’m workin’ on it!

I highly recommend running down to Barnes & Noble and picking up a copy of “The Way of a Pilgrim” (yes, that’s where my “name” comes from), an excellent little book, anonymously written many, many years ago, for an easily-read insight into the Eastern practice of “prayer without ceasing!”

a pilgrim
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Do you know of an online forum where this method of praying is discussed by people who practice it?
 
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arnulf:
Do you know of an online forum where this method of praying is discussed by people who practice it?
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Hi, arnulf!

There are many web pages available that discuss the specifics of this ancient practice… just google “Jesus Prayer” or “Prayer of the Heart” or even “chotki” (a “chotki” is an Eastern, rosary-type sacramental that Eastern Christians use to keep count of their repetitions of the prayer).

Here’s one that gives a very brief outline, discussing the oral, the mental and the “internal” stages of an individual’s progress with the prayer …

fr-d-serfes.org/lives/fatheragapit.htm

This site has, I believe, the online forum you’re looking for…

monachos.net/monasticism/jesus_prayer.shtml

a pilgrim
 
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potterygirl:
Okay for anyone to hear you, be it God, Mary, Jesus, or a Saint…does your prayer have to be spoken aloud? you know when you are at home or shopping, driving, etc…

Just wondering as I can say more in my head than when speaking aloud. Maybe I get distracted by the sound of my own voice and forget all the good things I wanted to say aloud.
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God loves you for hearing from you ! So if its from your heart:heart: then God will hear you ! Remeber the sinful man and the zealot ? When the zealot prayed, he used lots of words, whereas the sinful man just asked to be forgiven, and was very humble.
 
potterygirl said:
<snip, snip>
Just wondering as I can say more in my head than when speaking aloud. Maybe I get distracted by the sound of my own voice and forget all the good things I wanted to say aloud.
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I know what you mean. When I was doing my research, I was told to tape record my impressions after every interview as well as any time I had ideas for my dissertation. I can’t talk out loud - I forget what I want to say.

As for prayers. I mutter my formal prayers (I find hearing them keeps my mind from wandering), but if I am just having an informal conversation with God, or with Our Mother, I generally do so in my mind.

John
 
Same here. I like to pray out loud if I’m alone because I think it helps me concentrate better. My mind wanders too much sometimes, but if I’m praying out loud I have to think about what I’m saying. I try to pray in my head throughout the day too though.
 
potterygirl said:
Okay for anyone to hear you, be it God, Mary, Jesus, or a Saint…does your prayer have to be spoken aloud? you know when you are at home or shopping, driving, etc…

Just wondering as I can say more in my head than when speaking aloud. Maybe I get distracted by the sound of my own voice and forget all the good things I wanted to say aloud.
Click to expand...
Hi sister my answer is that I don’t often pray but as I speak to you or anyone, that is how I speak to God to Jesus to the Holy Spirit to Mary to the Angels to the Saints. I guess it would be called my relationship with the trinity or our spiritual family has the same relationship in the spoken form as if I were relating to people since God made us to His likeness whether aloud or silently I relate. It is all praise (prayer).
At times I speak quietly since others around are relating other times people arn’t even there to me.
It is your preference, love it all.

God bless you
littleone
 
I found that praying out loud is the best way to stay focused for LOTH and to pray at the right pace, attentively and reverently. I am also getting old because I find myself chatting to God, Jesus, Mary, a saint, my guardian angel, the Holy Spirit throughout the day. It’s getting so I have to watch myself at work or they are going to think I’m nuts.
Drat it where is my cell phone, Dear Anthony, please . . . oh here it is, thanks Tony. Now Angel, I have to make this call to an angry parent please smoothe the conversation. Mary, help this mother who is struggling, you understand her pain. Now where are my keys, hey, Tony … . . dang the mice have been in here again, Francis can’t you convince them to stay outside, they have chewed up my mouse pad, please explain to them the meaning of the term. Now I have to plan the Confirmation meeting for Sunday. Come Holy Spirit enlighten and guide me, and please speak to the candidates and sponsors through the words of your catechists and the resources we are using. I wish we could afford to give bibles to every candidate, Jesus please help us find a way to brint your Word to them, and by the way, I just got an e-mail about my niece who needs your guidance please speak to her, you know her heart best.

. . . . I am babbling like this a lot of the time, sometimes out loud. scary
 
puzzleannie said:
I found that praying out loud is the best way to stay focused for LOTH and to pray at the right pace, attentively and reverently. I am also getting old because I find myself chatting to God, Jesus, Mary, a saint, my guardian angel, the Holy Spirit throughout the day. It’s getting so I have to watch myself at work or they are going to think I’m nuts.
Drat it where is my cell phone, Dear Anthony, please . . . oh here it is, thanks Tony. Now Angel, I have to make this call to an angry parent please smoothe the conversation. Mary, help this mother who is struggling, you understand her pain. Now where are my keys, hey, Tony … . . dang the mice have been in here again, Francis can’t you convince them to stay outside, they have chewed up my mouse pad, please explain to them the meaning of the term. Now I have to plan the Confirmation meeting for Sunday. Come Holy Spirit enlighten and guide me, and please speak to the candidates and sponsors through the words of your catechists and the resources we are using. I wish we could afford to give bibles to every candidate, Jesus please help us find a way to brint your Word to them, and by the way, I just got an e-mail about my niece who needs your guidance please speak to her, you know her heart best.

. . . . I am babbling like this a lot of the time, sometimes out loud. scary
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You just made me feel a whole lot better. I do the same thing. It’s like I have this running conversation going on all of the time with various saints, angels, Mary, Jesus, HS, Father, etc. If someone hears me sometime, they’ll think I’m bonkers.
 
mommyof4 said:
You just made me feel a whole lot better. I do the same thing. It’s like I have this running conversation going on all of the time with various saints, angels, Mary, Jesus, HS, Father, etc. If someone hears me sometime, they’ll think I’m bonkers.
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As Dr Phil says (yes, sadly I do watch him sometimes) ‘you’d never worry about what other people think of you if you knew how seldom they do!’ :yup:
 
LilyM said:
As Dr Phil says (yes, sadly I do watch him sometimes) ‘you’d never worry about what other people think of you if you knew how seldom they do!’ :yup:
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Yes, we need to get rid of our “imaginary audience,” as I tell my teenage girls.
 
Either and even more variance. Sometimes I don’t even speak… I just feel some emotions or let images pass through my head. At other times, I will practically be shouting (though not too loudly… more like exclaiming, sort of), though that will be rare. Sometimes when I’m alone, I’ll prefer to use what we call “half-voice” in Polish. Helps me concentrate and avoid distraction - but that’s mostly for “official” prayers with words, not what comes to my mind, what I speak. That’s mostly just in my head (heart if you prefer).
 
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