Tempted during prayer

[SacredHeartFan]

I feel that I am tempted most while I am saying my rosary or praying. It makes me feel good that I don’t stop my prayer for that temptation. Does anyone else experience this?

 

[Trishie]

Is that tempted or distracted, I wasn’t sure, one is temptation to sin, the other, wandering thoughts.
In any case, God bless you for persevering. We’re going to fall down but to keep trying is the grace.

 

[Conservative]

I feel that I am tempted most while I am saying my rosary or praying. It makes me feel good that I don’t stop my prayer for that temptation. Does anyone else experience this?

Whether tempted or distracted - which Trishie is correct in asking for clarification - it’s still evil keeping you from doing good. Just keep doing good. It’s tiring, frustrating - and, as the evil would want it, sometimes enough to make you stop doing good - DON’T STOP ! I have same - bad thoughts or distractions, whether in Church sometimes or otherwise. Laziness, too, when it comes to a prayer regimen. Drives me crazy, since I sometimes can’t find the dividing line between temptations or willful thoughts. (I’m also scrupulous, so add another issue to the list.) Just remember - it’s evil waiting to snare you - Don’t let it succeed. Ask Our Lady for her intercession in this matter and
let God and Our Lady triumph !

 

[SacredHeartFan]

Is that tempted or distracted, I wasn’t sure, one is temptation to sin, the other, wandering thoughts.
In any case, God bless you for persevering. We’re going to fall down but to keep trying is the grace.

Yes, it is defintatly temptation. Thanks for you guys’ help!

 

[Njoki]

I feel that I am tempted most while I am saying my rosary or praying. It makes me feel good that I don’t stop my prayer for that temptation. Does anyone else experience this?

now am all smiles coz @list someone else is botherd by what drives me insane.actually i experience this all the time and i even refrain from goin 4 communion coz it happens perpetually.gosh! how can the devil be that crude.actually am talkin about “pop ups” that happen everytime am in prayer .i go 4 confession otenly and the priest says that distructuons r normal and we but we should b faithful 2 God.as lonng as u dont leave prayer 2 attend 2 the temtation then i gess ur being faithful.keep it up. now what bothers is the kind of pop up that comes 2 my mind.noone would ever imagine it coz it is sooo abominable.my only consolation is that it cannever happen.but the thot of it just drives me insane actually i get verry anxious about it/who would help and should i go 4 communion or not?

 

[ReginaCoeli]

I, too, suffer from distraction during prayer. It is very frustrating. I truly enjoy my times of prayer and I look forward to spending time with our Lord and it really drives me crazy when my mind wanders. I talked about this problem with a Redemptoristine nun and she gave me some wonderful advice. She said everytime a distraction comes into my mind, and I ignore it and return to my prayer, it is like saying I love you to Jesus. Everytime I turn away from the distraction and turn my mind back to Jesus, I am choosing him over the distraction. So if you have 100 distractions, and 100 times you turn your mind back to prayer, you’ve said “I love you, Jesus” 100 times. This is how I deal with my distractions. It is an ongoing battle. I’m sure lots of people, both religious & laity, have this struggle. I’d be interested to hear how others deal with it. God Bless.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

I was only reading last night somewhere, that the devil cannot be too bothered with the deliberate sinner etc. since they are conquered already, rather often it is the most devout who will be most seriously tempted. Many of the lives of our saints are testimony to this. Temptation is not at all sinful though a disturbing matter perhaps - but no cause to loose Peace.
With distractions, even our great St. Teresa of Avila wrote of times when her mind at prayer was full of distractions. This could have many causes I think and the way to go is that as often as one realizes one is distracted to bring one’s mind gently back to prayer.
Peace is a great criteria of sound and Graced spirituality and we read in Tuesdays First Reading:
here

Therefore, beloved, since you await these things,
be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.

 

[kate64]

I, too find myself distracted during prayer. I often think that this is the work of satan. I am praying in quiet at home, work, wherever and someone will start to talk to me, or the phone rings and it is for me. This drives me nuts. One solution I’ve come up with is this: I break up my prayer/s into mini prayer sessions. For example, I recite the efficacious novena to the sacred heart. When I pray this, I pray for people by name when possible and it sometimes takes me forever and a day, so I break up the prayer into three parts throughout the course of the day. Sometimes the mini sessions work out better because it gives time to regroup and maybe find the quiet time needed.: