Praying And Doing Other Things At Same Time?

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dailey

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I pray the rosary everyday. I always make sure to kneel and give all my attention to Mother Mary. However, throughout the day, I like to say my other prayers (while driving, cleaning, standing in line, etc) but I always feel a sense of guilt because I can’t get over the feeling that I am being disrespectful? Many times I have to start over because I “drift off” or get distracted. :o

So what do you all think? Is this disrespectful? Any suggestions or comments on how you pray? Thanks!🙂
 
dailey said:
I pray the rosary everyday. I always make sure to kneel and give all my attention to Mother Mary. However, throughout the day, I like to say my other prayers (while driving, cleaning, standing in line, etc) but I always feel a sense of guilt because I can’t get over the feeling that I am being disrespectful? Many times I have to start over because I “drift off” or get distracted. :o

So what do you all think? Is this disrespectful? Any suggestions or comments on how you pray? Thanks!🙂
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Not at all!

It is actually a very venerable way to pray!

And the use of short “little prayers” in various activities etc is very very ancient…(for Example St. Augustine mentions them…)

The Church even encourages us to during our duties and the hardships of life to offer these short prayers by giving us a “partial indulgence” when these “pius invocations” are made during our duties and the bearing the hardships of life…

Wonderful practice!

(suggestion…keep them short…like “Jesus I believe in you, I hope in you, I love you!” or “Praised be Jesus Christ”…etc like “little darts sent heavenward”)
 
dailey said:
I pray the rosary everyday. I always make sure to kneel and give all my attention to Mother Mary. However, throughout the day, I like to say my other prayers (while driving, cleaning, standing in line, etc) but I always feel a sense of guilt because I can’t get over the feeling that I am being disrespectful? Many times I have to start over because I “drift off” or get distracted. :o

So what do you all think? Is this disrespectful? Any suggestions or comments on how you pray? Thanks!🙂
Click to expand...
The fact that you contemplate prayer in those casual normal daily tasks elevates them to something much more profound. EVERYTHING can be a prayer and everything we do should be a prayer. Never feeling guilty about prayer in any form.
 
When I was a little girl in Catholic school, the nuns would put their hands in their sleeves and pray the Rosary while watching us during recess. These were “extra” prayers, so the fact that someone fell off the slide and required their attention did not mean they had been distracted! It just meant that they time for their extra praying had ended.

I think this is a good question and a wonderful practice. We have “extra” in our days… extra time (while we wait in line), extra attention (while we fold the towels), etc., and to use this extra time or attention to pray is great.

When we lived somewhere where I could hear EWTN on the radio, I would pause to pray the short prayers, or do something easy for some of the longer prayers.
 
I heard a priest tell this story. A man asked him in confession if he could smoke his pipe while he prayed. Instead of answering, the priest told him to ask instead, “May I pray while I smoke my pipe?”
 
PS…one need not kneel either (though it is a good way to pray) it is not the only way…one can stand or sit…or walk etc…
 
I have read where John Paul II would be praying the Rosary regularly during meetings. I pray it throughout the day, “provided” I can do so while still meditating on the mystery. If I am so involved that I cannot pray it and still meditate than I put it aside for later. That is true of all prayer and our obligation to “Pray without ceasing”.
However, that does not mean “repeat without thinking”, so when I find myself distracted and unable to concentrate/meditate on the words and meanings of any prayer, I wait for a less busy time when I can.
 
I pray when I’m hiking, working out, at martial arts, driving, whenever the urge hits. And my mind wonders all the time…hey, who is the new starting quarterback for Washington Redskins? 😉
 
God welcomes any prayers we offer. Our short prayers said throughout the day are wonderful ways to keep God in the forefront of our lives and our thoughts! That is great. He does, however, want us to give some time to Him alone, as you do when you say the Rosary - you know, to be like Mary and sit at His feet, not busy and distracted about many things as Martha was. I think the “problem” is when the short prayers are the only prayers - when we say we are too busy to have quiet, undistracted time with the Lord, when we give our full attention to everything and everyone but Him. Not that the short prayers are ever wrong or that we should feel guilty about them but He does desire quiet time with us. You are giving Him that in your undistracted time with the Rosary!!
 
How else could we pray without ceasing, the Holy Spirit working within us…
 
Most monastic communities require prayer through work. I know the one I was in certainly did, you were expected to offer up your daily labor as a prayer to God.

I would take a mild exception to one thing you stated. You should NOT give 100% of your attention to Mary while praying the Rosary, or any other prayer.

Mary is NOT the one being worshiped or diefied. You are ASKING Mary to pray for you to God. You are asking for her prayers each and every day. But, your attention should be to the one who created her, the one who gave her Jesus in the Womb, and the one who died on the Cross for all of us.

We ask Mary to intercede for us, we do not pray to her as if she were God.l
 
Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments! :flowers: I really enjoyed reading all the responses.🙂

@TheOldMetic…Good catch! 👍 I completely agree with you, I meant all my attention to GOD.:o
 
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