Struggling with prayer

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Hello everyone,

Recently, I’ve found that I’ve really been struggling with prayer. All of my prayers just seem…insipid. I feel like I’m going through the motions - I’m saying the words and making intentions, but I just don’t feel a connection to God. It’s gotten to the point that even mass doesn’t hold any meaning for me.

It really hit home when I realized that I was saying my nightly prayers earlier then normal in an effort to get them out of the way. I’d go up, say the rosary, make the same intentions as normal, and then leave, not feeling like I communicated with God at all. I’m a little ashamed to admit that they’ve almost become a superstition for me.

I really am trying to mean my prayers. I didn’t always use to be this way. I used to really feel a connection when I prayed. Of course, I know that the emotion is not the important thing, but I still feel like I’m missing something.

I’ve started praying to God about this (a strange form of meta-prayer, don’t you think). But I was also curious if anyone had any advice. Am I doing something wrong (I almost certainly am), or is this just a normal part of spiritual life that I need to plow through?

Thank you for your time.
 
This is a great post! I love your approach to how you describe the problem, and it is a dilemma I wish more Catholics would recognize – that there is more to prayer than saying the right words. It means to me that you are seeing beyond “the process” and looking for the actual treasure: union with our Lord.

Start by realizing there are forms of prayer that don’t even involve words. These are contemplative prayers. The CCC (2709) says our prayer life “should” progress to this form.

It sounds like you really need this. The best intro I’ve seen for contemplative prayer, and frankly for just exactly what you are describing, is concise, easy to read, and was used last year at a seminary for beginning prayer classes. It talks about getting distracted during prayer and all sorts of useful aspects of the matter.

Armchair Mystic: Easing into Contemplative Prayer

Edit: it talks about three stages in prayer:

1.) talking at God,
2.) talking to God, and
3.) listening to God.

For me, contemplative prayer is about #3.
 
Hi SPBlitz,

I don’t have much to offer in the way of advice, but I’m going through the same thing! I will pray for you.

Peace,
blue
 
blueshells said:
Hi SPBlitz,

I don’t have much to offer in the way of advice, but I’m going through the same thing! I will pray for you.

Peace,
blue
Click to expand...
😉

I will just say that praying to Him about it is the best thing you could do. I should listen to my own words since I’m experiencing the same thing. I think it’s a normal part of the spiritual journey.
 
SPBlitz said:
I’ve started praying to God about this (a strange form of meta-prayer, don’t you think). But I was also curious if anyone had any advice. Am I doing something wrong (I almost certainly am), or is this just a normal part of spiritual life that I need to plow through?

Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...
In my opinion, you are doing the right thing already. God has the answer to all our problems. Whatever is troubling you, talk to Him about it, same way you have told us, tell Him just as though you are confiding in someone in the same room with you and have the confidence that He will sort it all out in His own time. Mind you, the timing is His, you just keep telling Him about it and whatever progress you are making. Have you thought of this in terms of the devil’s attempt to disrupt your prayer life? I read somewhere that if Satan had his wish, it would be that humanity might live without prayer; this is because he knows how powerful prayer is and how much he is powerless against prayer. His strategists against prayer includes:
1: Preventing us from praying by whatever means.
2:Interrupting us during prayer if he cannot stop us praying.
3: hindering the success of the prayer if he can.
 
Thank you everyone for the replies!

Mystical Seeker - thanks for the book suggestion. It looks pretty interesting - and it’s on Kindle, so that’s a plus for me. I’ll definitely give it a read!

It’s also comforting to know that I’m not the only one struggling with this - I’ll make sure to keep you all in my prayers!

It has occurred to me that this might be Satan trying to negatively influence my prayers (which is one of the reasons I’ve been trying to plow on. I figured that poor/distracted prayers are better than no prayers at all). But its probably more that I just have trouble focusing, and I think I’m it what C.S. Lewis described as a trough period (you know, a period in life where you don’t have much passion for anything).

I am going to keep praying to God to help me out with this. One of the tough things though is being patient, especially since it’s about something so important (and I’m just naturally an impatient person). Then again, God has answered my prayers before, and I’ve noticed that even though the answer never came exactly when I wanted it to or in the exact form that I expected, God’s solution always turned out to be superior than what I had in mind, so I guess I should trust him 🙂 .

Thanks again, and have a happy Thanksgiving!
 
One of the saints who was martyred by Henry VIII who was his chancellor, was a lawyer. He had a very busy practise yet each day he said he spent 2 hours in prayer to start the day off.

We can’t be too busy to pray.

Mother Teresa was riding in a cab with a priest. He told her that he was so busy in his work that he didn’t have time to pray like he should. She told him he was too busy.

The previous Pope John Paul prayed the entire rosary, 15 decades, every day. Is any of our scheduals busier than his was?

One 5 decade rosary takes between 15-20 minutes on the average. Our Lady said to pray her rosary.

We have people all the time who give reasons why they drifted off from practise of their faith: Mass is boring, Sunday is the only day I have for me, didn’t see any need for it anymore, the scandals were too much, I lost my enthusiasm, Sermons aren’t interesting, I don’t know anybody, I’m tired…

But it would be interesting to ask the question, have you been praying 15-20 minutes a day?

Someone once said that reading about our faith, or thinking about our faith is not enough to gain the graces we need. We have to ask for them in prayer. In the hail mary of the rosary we ask Mary to pray for us NOW and at the hour of our death. In the litany of the saints, we ask each saint to pray for us. We must ask for grace. It isn’t enough to think and ponder, which is good at times. But it isn’t asking. We need to pray for our children and for one another, and ask for blessings. In the Mass, we are constantly asking.

Here is what Mary explained to Catherine Laboure in 1830 about the picture of her on her Miraculous Medal she wanted everyone to wear.

During this apparition, Mary’s hands had 3 rings on each finger. Each ring gave off
rays of colored light. A few rings did not. Mary said that the lights radiating from
the rings are graces that people ASK for. The rings that didn’t radiate light she said
were graces not given because they were NOT asked for.

How many people have said, I don’t feel right about my faith any more, or I’ve changed and I’m not quite as dedicated as I was. Grace is essential, there is no way around it, and it is gotten thru prayer every day.

There may be a sneaky feeling by some that I’m over doing this a bit. Not at all. No prayer, no life. Just that simple. How many people do you think left the faith when praying 20-30 minutes a day? And that is minimum. How many people do you think would stay away if they prayed 20-30 minutes a day?

Just something to think about, the importance of grace, the touch of Jesus.
 
fred_conty said:
One of the saints who was martyred by Henry VIII who was his chancellor, was a lawyer. He had a very busy practise yet each day he said he spent 2 hours in prayer to start the day off.
Click to expand...
St. Thomas More.

He told Henry that he was God’s servant first.
 
SPBlitz said:
Hello everyone,

Recently, I’ve found that I’ve really been struggling with prayer. All of my prayers just seem…insipid. I feel like I’m going through the motions - I’m saying the words and making intentions, but I just don’t feel a connection to God. It’s gotten to the point that even mass doesn’t hold any meaning for me.

It really hit home when I realized that I was saying my nightly prayers earlier then normal in an effort to get them out of the way. I’d go up, say the rosary, make the same intentions as normal, and then leave, not feeling like I communicated with God at all. I’m a little ashamed to admit that they’ve almost become a superstition for me.

I really am trying to mean my prayers. I didn’t always use to be this way. I used to really feel a connection when I prayed. Of course, I know that the emotion is not the important thing, but I still feel like I’m missing something.

I’ve started praying to God about this (a strange form of meta-prayer, don’t you think). But I was also curious if anyone had any advice. Am I doing something wrong (I almost certainly am), or is this just a normal part of spiritual life that I need to plow through?

Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...
This is me too!!
 
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