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jbelokur
Guest
I am 29 and grew up protestant and am now Catholic. I have great admiration with regaurds to devotions but little staying power. What are some suggestions for developing a pattern of prayer for someone like me?
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JRKH
Guest
Sometimes people can try “too hard” and try to embrace too much at once.
Let me ask a couple of questions.
How long have you been Catholic?
What sorts of Devotions are you attracted to?
Also - What sort of prayer life did you have before coming inot The Church? This might be a good place to start.
Now - as a general rule for developing a prayer life, I would suggest beginning with simple prayers in the morning and evening. Prayers of Thanksgiving and asking for grace and for God’s will in your life.
Look for times when you can “talk with God” during the day. Driving or riding a bus are good examples. Lunch time can be another opportunity to use for prayer. None of these will likely be moments of “deep contemplative” prayer but you’d be surprised at the benefits. All of these little things keep God in front of you. Keep you near Him and help you to see him as part of your daily life.
If you have a devotion to a particular saint, or to Our Lady etc. Add quick intercessery prayers into these more or less regular prayer times.
Just rmember that the most important time to pray is when you “don’t feel like it”. That is when you need God to be near to you the most. It is also the time when you need to pray the most for his protection.
Peace
James
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jbelokur
Guest
I’ve been Catholic for three years now. I’m attracted to things like the divine office, but that is my problem. I get it into my head that I want to do these big great things and it only lasts a little while. I think what I need is accountability, to find a spiritual director.
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JRKH
Guest
That is a good idea.
A spiritual director will help you to both order your life to have the time, and also council you in patience with yourself to grow into these things.
Peace
James
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jbelokur
Guest
I have someone in mind, a retired priest, very faithful and thoughtful. I just need to make the first step.
B
Bookcat
Guest
as to devotions…you can try some out …and then end up choosing one or two or so that suit you…
also of course Scripture (lectio divina) should be part of most persons spiritual life…
here is a little booklet that my help in general…it is downloaded for free …
scepterpublishers.org/product/index.php?FULL=654
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NPC
Guest
I think you should start small! It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to tackle the entire Office all at once - from a prayer point of view it could overwhelm you, but the Divine Office can be tricky to get used to. So it might be a good idea to choose just one or two of the offices for the day.
A few months ago I came across a slightly condensed version of the Divine Office (a pre-Vatican II version) which has Lauds, Vespers and Compline (for just €1!). I pray Compline each night, and Lauds & Vespers occasionally. If I am at Eucharistic Adoration in the afternoon, I like to pray Vespers…But for me, at the moment, Compline is the constant - I find it to be a good way to end the day. As I said on a different thread a short while ago, I pray each of the psalms for a particular intention and I’m frequently surprised at how the psalms relate in some way to these sometimes random intentions! So maybe in time I’ll move on to other parts of the Office - I’d certainly like to be disciplined enough to pray some of the morning prayers!
So don’t rush into committing yourself to huge chunks of these devotions - the image of a community of monks praying the Office together six times a day may be a very beautiful one, but it takes a great deal of discipline. So festina lente - make haste slowly
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