What's Your Greatest Prayer Obstacle?

[reen12]

quote: una ecclesia

thanks reen12 for your post

And thank you for your thoughts, as well, una ecclesia.

I have at least some idea of what the great mystics of the church have said,
but that is way too overwhelming for me.
It gets me all confused.

But, you know, I have had the experience of praying for
something, and finally giving up - in the sense that I say
to God “I will wait for You to answer. I’ve done all that I can
to understand.” And it’s the oddest thing. One day, I was
driving to work, my mind on the road and the day to come,
when God answered me. The anwer just “appeared” in my
mind. A perfect answer. A simple answer, even.

The only other thought that I have, is this. We are told
by St. Paul to “pray, always.” I think that Brother Lawrence
led the way on this, for me. His Practice of the Presence of God.
The book, about Bro. Lawrence, is online, here.

textual.net/access.gutenberg/Brother.Lawrence

and Amazon carries the book:

amazon.com/Practice-Presence-God-Brother-Lawrence/dp/0924722193/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213839499&sr=8-1

Brother Lawrence maintained that, the time set aside for
prayer, was no different to him than other times of the day.

When he was sent to transact business for the order,
with one leg that did not function well, he said to God that
all was in His hands, and that he gave himself no worry -
over how it would transpire. In the midst of this,
he was rolling over kegs, on the vessel that he was on,
and I got the mental image of Brother Lawrence, swaying
on the barrels, while his heart was with God.

Brother Lawrence was a beautiful soul, I think.

reen

 

[cheeto1]

well, I imagine I’m talking to God, and after a while, I accidentally
imagine I’m talking to someone else I know. I don’t know why
this happens and that’s how I’m distracted in the middle of my
prayers…

 

[reen12]

quote: Mekio

I need to pray to be able to pray! uch:

Oh, I know, Mekio. God must love us dearly,
watching us trying to figure out how to talk with Him.
You know what may help? Considering an incident
in the life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and then
thinking of how something in our own life mirrors this.

The trip to Bethlehem, alone, would provide many a
thought. Or Jesus, sitting on a hill, overlooking
Jerusalem, and actually crying, His heart was so sad.
All those days, all of those hours, and people
still did not understand. [they even have a little church,
*Dominus Flevit The Lord Wept.]

Or the time when Jesus heard the cry of Bartimaeus,
who was born blind. Everyone was trying to hush him up,
he was making such a racket. But Bartimaeus wasn’t going
to let his one chance pass by. And Jesus heard Him.
Who else does He hear? Us? God really meant it,
“The Lord hears the cry of the poor.”

“I don’t care what they say…Jesus!! - Son of David!!!”
And Jesus heard and responded. He didn’t only preach.
He listened.

reen12

website, on Dominus Flevit.

198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/san/TSflevitmn.html

 

[LilyM]

I’m with the laziness/computer/tv crowd (probably in that order) - and sometimes little sidetracks like work or study come into it as well

I do try to get the prayer time in regardless - with tv, the average ad break is (fortuitously) just about the same length as a decade of the Rosary - so in a one-hour show I can usually get four or five decades in, a half-hour show would be long enough for a Chaplet of Divine Mercy at least.

And I do short aspirations or an Our Father or Hail Mary here and there during breaks at work or study - they help with my concentration and calmness too (I’m ADD, so I tend to zone out or get antsy and need recharging after every half-hour of sustained mental effort anyways).

Shame there isn’t the same sort of ‘forced break’ with the internet - or books for that matter (I suppose I could stop and pray every chapter or something).