Prayer Life

[FutureCarmeliteClaire]

Okay, I have a lot to say on this because this has been a BIG struggle for me. I began to have a normal prayer day, it was sweet, short, and prayerful. Then I began to add more and more because I wanted to pray more and I felt that's what I needed to do because I love God so much. Well, that went great for quite a long time. But then during and before and even still after my "dark night" that was a big spiritually dry time for me, I lost momentum for prayer, I couldn't focus on anything, and I was afraid of dropping any prayers. I didn't feel like anything was coming from my prayers or even that God was listening. Praise God, my dark night vanished after my constant cries to God for hep, but that fear of dropping a few of my prayers and the inability to pray still lurks in my heart and my being. It is so difficult sometimes.
My advice I will give you is too commit to a few major prayers (Rosary, Chaplet, etc.) and stick to those no matter what, and as you grow in holiness, faith, and desire, you can add prayers. Also, just pray! Pray whenever, wherever, whatever! But if you ever are so overwhelmed with many, many prayers, do not feel bad about putting a few on hold for a while.

“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” ~ St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

[BarbTherese]

My key to regular daily prayer has been to start off small rather than big and to maintain "small" with perseverance and application as a daily routine. If I give extra time to prayer at any point, it is something special - not something I add on to the "small" as part of daily routine. When one first desires to give time to prayer, it can be a temptation to start "big" - also in times of spiritual consolation, it can be a temptation to add onto the daily routine of "small".
It is so different in monastic life, where everyone and everything is geared towards prayer and times of prayer. Sometimes one can feel anything but like praying, but because the whole community is going to prayer, one goes with them.
The other thing that has worked for me is that I am not in monastic life and if God wanted me to keep a monastic routine, then I would be in a monastery - or be aware and have confirmed as a lay person that I am called to a monastic routine. I don't have this vocation.


“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” ~ St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face
Amen to the above quotation, shared by FCC. It is the very best of habits to develop during any and all days to raise one's heart and mind lovingly although briefly to The Lord "a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy" as one goes about one's daily round. It soon becomes habitual - not in that it is just a habit, but that one's mind frequently turns to The Lord during the day and no matter the occupation - and with love in praise, thanksgiving and petition.

The other concept that has worked for me is that if my normal routine is interrupted by something else, then that 'something else' I offer as my prayer. Inititally, I would be hounded by guilt if something meant that I missed a prayer time - I dealt with this by reasoning out what exactly my vocation as a privately vowed lay person entailed and abandoning the concepts about a daily routine I had formed in monastic life. Mind you, some lay people may have a call to a strict routine of prayer and a spiritual director can be pure gold on the spiritual way.

Edited March 3, 2012 by BarbaraTherese