Too much prayer?

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Rosarydevotion

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Is there such a thing?

I’ve been really rigorous in my prayer life because I need to be. Lately I’ve increased my prayers and time in adoration. Lately, I noticed that I feel more distant from the Lord, even though I’m praying more and doing more to be close to Him.

Anyone with similar experience or thoughts on this?
 
There is no such thing as to much prayer. The more you pray the more you will get out of it. Sometimes God makes you distant from him so that you will not over indulge in pleasure.

You must realize that God can make anything bad into something good.
 
We can’t pray too much but that is not the same thing as feeling “burned out”. Anytime we are not maintaining a balance in life, we can begin to feel burdened (I know, kind of a bad word there) instead of refreshed. Prayer, fast, alms. So maybe instead of building the Body of Christ by 6 hours of prayer, maybe 2 hours and volunteer for 2 hours in corporeal/spiritual works of mercy - something like that. Explore different ways to live the Gospel. We want to pray that our constant prayer life doesn’t become “me and Jesus” and forget about community even when we are praying for others. If we don’t give ourselves to others, it can ebb into a prideful endeavor.
 
I imagine at least some of this prayer is mental prayer, no? I have been reading Fr Vitale’a *Ways of Mental Prayer, *and he talks about trying to hard to maintain a certain regimen of prayer at a point when a person needs to “graduate” to new levels, which does not mean to totally abandon vocal prayer and the Rosary, which he recommends continuing, but just using other times to move upward in prayer.

This book is in print but can also be found on the Internet Archive.

ETA: If you are not doing mental prayer, this may be a sign for you to start 🙂 There are nine levels of prayer: vocal prayer is just the beginning!
 
I agree that there’s no such thing as too much prayer.

I also agree that doing more of God’s work will also help you feel more connected to Him. Try volunteering or spending time with the elderly in nursing homes. That gives me great joy to talk with them and sharing the love of Christ with people who don’t have much interaction with others.

Hoping you feel better soon.
 
msammiem said:
I agree that there’s no such thing as too much prayer.

I also agree that doing more of God’s work will also help you feel more connected to Him. Try volunteering or spending time with the elderly in nursing homes. That gives me great joy to talk with them and sharing the love of Christ with people who don’t have much interaction with others.

Hoping you feel better soon.
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Great idea!

🙂
 
I agree that what is happening is not due to “too much prayer”. Sometimes, when we pray, we feel closer to God; sometimes, we end up feeling more distance. And we are called to pray continuously, without ceasing. However, there are many kinds of prayer, and we have to make sure that our prayer life is not adversly affecting our personal vocation. There is a time for contemplative prayer, and there is a time for active prayer. Honestly, if we are married, and we are continuously engaged in contemplative prayer, we have the chance to alienate our spouses and (if we are blessed enough to have them) our children. Active prayer is the living of our faith, and mentally asking God to help us with what we are currently doing.
 
msammiem said:
I agree that there’s no such thing as too much prayer.
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I disagree. There are people who neglect the duties of their state in order to spend more time in prayer thinking they are pious and doing the will of God, when in fact, they are doing the opposite.
 
Deo_Gratias42 said:
I disagree. There are people who neglect the duties of their state in order to spend more time in prayer thinking they are pious and doing the will of God, when in fact, they are doing the opposite.
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Agree completely. Benedictines promote balance in all aspects of life. If you spend too much time in “active” prayer (that is prayer where you are cut off from family, duties, etc., as opposed to conversing with God while doing tasks), and neglect exercise, work, family responsibilities, sleep, etc., something ends up going out of balance and that’s unhealthy for the individual and all around him or her.

It happens, and I have been guilty of, using prayer to neglect obligations and duties. It’s important to guard against that realizing that sometimes fulfilling the duty, especially a humanitarian or family duty is itself a prayer, an offering of self for God’s greater glory. It’s part of the spiritual maturation process to work on finding an appropriate life balance.

For example I pray the LOTH. Being semi-retired now and with all kids out of the house I have time to pray the longer Monastic Office. When my kids were small and I was a busy professional I could only pray a part of the LOTH and some days had to miss it altogether. My wife will soon need eye surgery and I will have to care for her afterwards, and that will have to come first. Benedictines, if they taught me anything, taught me that they’re inherently practical men. Sometimes a monk just has to miss an office if he’s battling a recalcitrant plumbing problem, or comforting a seriously distressed visitor.
 
I think I’m guilty of wanting that spiritual cookie or that feeling of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And then get bummed when it doesn’t happen. Which I know is wrong and not the reason why we pray. I think sometimes I just feel that something must be wrong if I’m not feeling it.
 
Rosarydevotion said:
I think I’m guilty of wanting that spiritual cookie or that feeling of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And then get bummed when it doesn’t happen. Which I know is wrong and not the reason why we pray. I think sometimes I just feel that something must be wrong if I’m not feeling it.
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I pray the Liturgy of the Hours and it’s most definitely NOT about how we feel. In fact the LOTH is not “all about me”. It’s the universal prayer of the Church. Monks show up in choir to pray the LOTH whether they feel like it or not. I pray it whether I feel like it or not, when I’m down and have big doubts, and when it leaves me spiritually dry. I am not praying for me, I’m praying for the entire Church.

But perseverance in prayer is vitally important. We need to make it a regular habit, because eventually a light goes off and we get an insight that brings us closer to God. But if we back off when we no longer feel like it, our spiritual life drifts off into the weeds.

That’s what I like about the LOTH and the canonical hours: it gives me a structure; without it, I would fail. I’m the type that needs structure. Just praying the Rosary doesn’t do it for me because I have no formal structure to appoint times to do it. But that’s just me. As it happens I’m bound (but not under penalty of sin) by my oblate promise to try to pray at least part of the LOTH. I pray the whole thing because I find its formal structure helps me persevere in prayer when my “feelings” direct me otherwise.

It’s often been in my most spiritually dry periods that something in the LOTH hits me like a brilliant flash of light; either a reading, a psalm verse, a chant…

I also realize that others are dependent on our prayers; the LOTH includes both joyful and sorrowful psalms. A monk commenting on the Rule of St. Benedict has said that we pray sorrowful psalms when we’re joyful because we’re in solidarity with someone who feels sorrow and needs our prayers. Similarly, we pray joyful psalms when we’re down, because someone somewhere has reason to give thanks to God, and we try to rejoice with him or her. In fact part of being successful at the LOTH is to leave our feelings out of it as much as possible.

Hope this helps. Don’t think I just fell into this insight all of a sudden. I’ve been praying the LOTH for 12 years now; it took more than half of those years for it to gel into a solid habit.
 
What is God calling you to? There was a time when I was faithfully attending my prayer group every week. It was a 50 mile drive one way. WI is notorious for its winter weather. When I went to work on Friday mornings, everybody knew where I had been Thursday night, and not because of anything I said. I was also going on monthly retreats. I understand the desire to spend quality time with God. Sometimes, like the Apostles on the mountain at the transfiguration, God calls us back into the valley.
I had worked an extra 10 hours of overtime on my job. I was tired. It was just starting to rain, when I decided to pull my car to the side of the road. The only problem was I pulled off the road too soon. I found myself at the bottom of a cliff, after going through the guardrail, my car completely demolished. Where had I been headed? On another retreat. Where did God want me? Back in town.
We all know the story of Martha and Mary. Mary chose the better part when she sat at the feet of Jesus. Sometimes, we still need to do Martha’s chores. We can do those with Mary’s heart (from my mother’s Kitchen prayer). The question is not about too much prayer. After all, scripture tells us to pray unceasingly. Instead, the question should center on how God would have me pray. Is my prayer life a contemplative life filled with repetitive formulas and a to do list that I check off? Or is my prayer life balanced with service that becomes a prayer of humility.
 
We are supposed to pray ceaselessly according to St. Paul. This does not mean that we need to be conversing with God at every moment of the day or praying on our knees all day or in a chapel all day. When we can’t converse with Him because of our daily duties, then our doing our duties to please him and for his honor and glory – and to do his will – will be our prayer. We are bound as Catholics to pray morning and night prayer – any prayers of our choice with an examination of conscience included. We should pray at least 5 decades of the rosary every day and 30 minutes of mental prayer, and pray ejaculations throughout our day. We must never neglect our duties on account of prayer, but we should always make time for prayer because prayer is absolutely necessary for our salvation. If you are overdoing things, causing you to become dry and worn out, then change your prayer routine. I highly suggest you follow the above routine. God bless you.
 
Rosarydevotion said:
Is there such a thing?

I’ve been really rigorous in my prayer life because I need to be. Lately I’ve increased my prayers and time in adoration. Lately, I noticed that I feel more distant from the Lord, even though I’m praying more and doing more to be close to Him.

Anyone with similar experience or thoughts on this?
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You need to talk to your priest in confession or outside. Discuss it with him because he can help you come to some understanding after knowing something about your life and responsibilities.

Sometimes a shift from one way of praying to another is in order because a person grows in the spiritual life. You may need to adjust to a new prayer style. Again the priest can help you determine what prayers in your case should be gravitating towards. He can also advise and suggest things as well that you can do.

Wear the miraculous medal of our Lady and pray to her to help you. She promised GREAT graces and ABUNDANT graces to those who trust her. She will lead you where you need to be.

May God bless and keep you. May God’s face shine on you. May God be kind to you and give you peace.
 
I also experience the same thing. And one thing I realized that my eagernerness and strong desire to pray is indeed a grace from god and when I lose that feeling and desire god test me if I will still pray without that consolation.
 
Keep on praying and never give up,god is simply hiding his face and in due time you will surely find delights in his presence.just keel on asking for his grace and what you need for our god is loving and merceful god.
 
Keep on praying and never give up and remember there is no such thing as too much prayer.our god in his due time will give you delights in his presence,don’t forget our god is loving and merciful god.ask his grace to keep you on praying.may god bless you always…
 
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