What if I don't want to pray with you?

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Eli4n4

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I don’t know if I’m posting this in the right place. My new neighbors are non-Catholic Christian pastors in their own church they made up (which is completely fine with me). It is even better that they seem to want to discuss it (give me a chance to try to evangelize). But when they were talking to my husband in their front yard the other day they were getting ready to say goodbye and he asked if my husband prayed or believed in prayer. Of course he said yes, so the guy wanted to pray with him and closed his eyes and kinda went into his little spontaneous prayer asking God to take care of our baby and help us pay off our debt. All fine and dandy (a little out of his place with the debt thing since we said nothing to him about our life)…but not our style at all. I was just wondering if there was a friendly way to avoid praying with this guy on our streets as it makes my husband and myself uncomfortable to pray the way the neighbors do.
 
just take it in the spirit of “have a nice day” and let it go. If I were your husband I would speak with him privately and let him know you do not appreciate having your personal life made the subject of a public prayer, by persons who have no right to details about your personal life. Next time this situation comes up immediately launch into the rosary, that should clear the air.
 
this will make more of an impact if you immediately kneel and pull out your rosaries, if you have a lawn statue of Our Lady, so much the better
 
Eli4n4 said:
I don’t know if I’m posting this in the right place. My new neighbors are non-Catholic Christian pastors in their own church they made up (which is completely fine with me). It is even better that they seem to want to discuss it (give me a chance to try to evangelize). But when they were talking to my husband in their front yard the other day they were getting ready to say goodbye and he asked if my husband prayed or believed in prayer. Of course he said yes, so the guy wanted to pray with him and closed his eyes and kinda went into his little spontaneous prayer asking God to take care of our baby and help us pay off our debt. All fine and dandy (a little out of his place with the debt thing since we said nothing to him about our life)…but not our style at all. I was just wondering if there was a friendly way to avoid praying with this guy on our streets as it makes my husband and myself uncomfortable to pray the way the neighbors do.
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Be prepared at the end to simply add a little invocation to a Saint or two. “St. Anthony pray for us, Mary, Mother of God, watch over us and guide us to your son.”
 
This cracked me up! 😃 I needed a laugh at lunchtime.

Just please be sincere when you pray to Our Lady, rather than use it solely as a way to spook your neighbor.
 
tinalewis said:
This cracked me up! 😃 I needed a laugh at lunchtime.

Just please be sincere when you pray to Our Lady, rather than use it solely as a way to spook your neighbor.
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Of course. I doubt it would spook them anyway. He’ll probably end up wanting to talk…which is fine with me. 😉
 
tinalewis said:
This cracked me up! 😃 I needed a laugh at lunchtime.

Just please be sincere when you pray to Our Lady, rather than use it solely as a way to spook your neighbor.
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I did not intend for it to be a spook mechanism, but should be sincere. There is no reason why you cannot or should not join in the prayer.
 
Something like this happened to me several months ago. At first I felt all these feelings of, “Oh, no! Not here in the middle of the parking lot! What will everybody think?” But then I decided that the Holy Spirit was in charge and He sent me a prayer right then and there so maybe I needed it, you know? So I just went with it and thanked her sincerely. And thanked God for sending me what He thought I needed even if it wasn’t what I wanted and not even how I wanted it.

By the way, that prayer turned out to be very important for me, for my spiritual health (it played a part in bringing me back to the Church) and helped with my physical health too. Who’da thunk it? God really does know best! 😉
 
One of the biggest questions I had to ask myself this year in my first year of college: “Why am I ashamed to be seen as a follower of Christ?”
I had noticed that my protestant friends were much more comfortable displaying their faith publicly–and it wasn’t them showing off or anything like that, they prayed when they felt the need to pray.
It took me a while to realize that I shouldn’t hide my Bible in my desk, out of the view of my hallmates. And pretty soon I was no longer hesitant to say that I was going to a bible study when my friends would ask me where I was going every Monday night.

So, one of the things that I really think that Catholics (myself included) need to improve on is being comfortable with our religion around others. Sure, you may get a look every once in a while, but is it worth worrying about that look if someone offers the opportunity for us to pray with them?
For your specific situation, I would say that you don’t need to go out of your way to pray with them, but I would encourage you to try to be an ambassador of the Catholic Church and Christ in every interaction that you have with them.
P.S. I would be genuinely surprised if they are not understanding if you tell them that you are not comfortable praying in public with them.
 
Few weeks ago a neighbor took us out to dinner at one of the fanciest steak houses in town. When the salads came, he asked if he could say the blessing.

And he said a beautiful ad-hoc prayer, ending with an Amen.

My 10 year old daughter immediately crossed herself, and verbalized “In the name…”. Out of the mouths of babes. 😃

Our neighbor’s eye’s got big… “Oh! I didn’t know you were Catholic!”. Had a wonderful meal and discussion on beliefs.
 
Light_Seeker said:
When the salads came, he asked if he could say the blessing…And he said a beautiful ad-hoc prayer, ending with an Amen…My 10 year old daughter immediately crossed herself, and verbalized “In the name…”. Out of the mouths of babes. 😃
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Haha! Reminds me of when a friend of mine took a youth group to a synagogue. The youth group kids were quiet and respectful. But one of her sons, when he couldn’t find the Blessed Sacrament, yells out:

"Hey, Father [the Rabbi], where’s Jesus?"

Cracks me up every time I think about it. Heh. 😃
 
Light_Seeker said:
Few weeks ago a neighbor took us out to dinner at one of the fanciest steak houses in town. When the salads came, he asked if he could say the blessing.

And he said a beautiful ad-hoc prayer, ending with an Amen.

My 10 year old daughter immediately crossed herself, and verbalized “In the name…”. Out of the mouths of babes. 😃

Our neighbor’s eye’s got big… “Oh! I didn’t know you were Catholic!”. Had a wonderful meal and discussion on beliefs.
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That’s generally a good approach for grown-ups, too. I don’t mind praying with my evangelical friends, but I always conclude with the Sign of the Cross after the Amen. They know who I am.

You can never have too many people praying for you!😃
 
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