Satan trying to distract me in prayer; at Mass

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Erin_Marie

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I read the past messages about Satan and dreams, but my problem is different.

Whenever I pray, and everytime I go to Mass, and sometimes when I’m not doing much at all, Satan (or something) places a few select bad, blasphemous words in my mind, and they repeat over, and over. I am certain that it is not me saying these things. I would never even think to say these words. It makes me cringe to think this is going on in my head.

It started during my conversion process. It bothers me greatly, and I’m always asking God’s forgiveness for this. It’s just a major distraction, although I will NOT let it keep me from prayer and Mass. I just wish it would go away.

Is there any advice you could give me? Any prayers, saints to pray to, ways to mute Satan?

I’ve thought of going to see a preist, but I feel like he would think I’m a little…well…:whacky: .

Thank you for reading this. God bless!
 
I think this is more common than you think. I have struggled with such thoughts for a number of years and find that if I just say a quick prayer to our Blessed Mother for assistance, it will usually cease. In reading about the lives of some saints, they were constantly assailed by Satan in their thoughts and inclinations. Most dealt with this through almost constant prayer, personal mortification (ie. fasting, etc…) and devotion to Mary.

Me personally, I pray the Liturgy of the Hours and the Rosary daily; I receive Eucharist as often as possible; frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation; and do some sort of spiritual reading every day. Even with all that, evil thoughts still creep in. A priest once told me to turn it over to God, He is our salvation. Don’t try and win the fight yourself…put it in God’s hands and victory will soon be at hand!

God bless!
 
I actually have this problem myself, and it can be quite a nuisance. Sometimes the most awful words or images would pop into my mind while I tried to concentrate during Mass, and I would desperately try to clear my mind of them and pray that they go away. This is actually going to sound strange…but, you are all familiar with the transitions between the scenes in the tv show Home Improvement, right? You know, where the scene would fall apart or change to the next scene in some creative way? Well, haha, that’s kind of how I deal with my thoughts, by imagining them falling apart or being torn away. It actually works too, if I repeat as necessary.
 
I think that this issue is quite common. When impure or otherwise sinful thoughts enter my head I try to break into prayer right there on the spot.

:bowdown:

Pick a prayer that you have memorized and that rolls off your tongue easilly, like Glory be… or Hail Mary… and pray it about three times or so with the intention of a clean mind. I learned this from a Fr. Corapi lecture and it works for me. Hope this helps.
 
I am distracted when in prayer that I begin to yawn, however, when I stop praying the yawning stops. Also I am simple distraced and start to think about things other and the Liturgy.
Just going to Mass/Liturgy is half the battle won over Satan.

Go with God!
Edwin
 
Very common…I liken these bad thoughts while in prayer to “satanic gnats” the low level spirits that try to distract us… before prayer I say…I renounce all distractions that may come my way"

When I had my conversion…the very FIRST times trying to pray the Rosary…WOW! I could feel old scratch around me, trying to frighten me…chills would run up and down my spine, my hair would stand on my neck… at night, I would feel blackness hover over me while I was trying to sleep… pressing down on me… sometimes, I even had dreams where I was taken by the devil and thrown up to my ceiling and battling the guy with prayer! Only when I’d call out to St Michael or the BVM would I then wake up…but it was like I wasnt really sleeping…like some sort of leaving my body and fighting thing… I AM NOT CRAZY! 😃

The point is DONT GIVE UP! He WANTS to scare us so we will wil stop praying…he HATES it when he loses us from his grip…Now, ONCE in a GREAT GREAT WHILE… minor things may happen, but I dont even give the bum a second thought…I call on the angels and BVM to take care of the matter, roll over and go to sleep and ignore “it” 👍
 
This is a very common problem indeed. Without getting into my personal expericences on this topic, and there are many, let me mention a statment I heard quite a few years ago while attending college. A local priest was speaking to a few of us and one of my friends mentioned the problem of being distracted by the Evil One while in prayer. The priest responded … " If you were not growing closer to the Lord through your prayer, Satan would not attempt to interfere."

Makes you think huh?

In His Peace
 
Don’t despair - you are in the company of saints. The devil doesn’t go after the ones he already has, only the ones he doesn’t.

The Hail Mary works best for me, usually because it’s the one that I think of first. Also try the prayer to St. Michael, or even to your guardian angel. I also keep a small bottle of holy water on my key chain.

Will pray for you in your struggles. :gopray:
 
Thank you all so much.

It relieves me (although it saddens me as well), that I am not the only one these things happen to.

I like the “gnat” statement. They are just that. Annoying, bothersome things.

All of your suggestions and encouragement are wonderful. I’m going to keep these things in mind always.

Satan will NOT get me.

:blessyou:
 
Hi all, here is my own experience. When you have these distractions…
  1. Start saying JESUS over and over and over again
  2. I suggest fasting and constantly praying. e.g. Rosary
  3. Eucharist
  4. Bible.
God Bless,

Kheng
 
peace be with you! St. Faustina wrote about this same thing in her diary. so not only have people here had this…St. Faustina and I would be willing to bet that other great saints have had this struggle. here is what i like to do. i don’t really consider these things “temptations” because you are probably not tempted to blaspheme God…they just pop in and out of your mind. when one of these thoughts come, offer it up in reparation for someone who does blaspheme God or for those who are under the influence of the devil. that way…these terrible thoughts will bring about a great good, the conversion of someone who is very in need of God’s grace. ask Mary to help you with this.
 
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