Distractions & Interruptions to prayer time
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Question: What challenges do you face when trying to set aside time for prayer?
Answer: DISTRACTION
This was a question on my recent survey - I was really surprised at the number of responses that specifically mentioned the word distraction.
And let me tell you…I struggle with distraction as well!
I looked, and distraction is actually addressed in the Catechism.
Here's the highlights from paragraph 2729:
(find the complete text below)
The habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction.
Because, as we all know, we live in a world of distractions. Interruptions from kids, our to-do lists, or even just the call of something more appealing than prayer.
…all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart: for a distraction reveals to us what we are attached to…
God first. Of course, we should be attached to our kids😂 and sometimes interruptions are necessary. But if we take an honest look at our day - what is truly distracting us from setting aside time for prayer? What attachments are pulling us away?
Are we putting God first?
Yes, there are definitely moments in our lives that the time we can spend in formal prayer is very limited (like if you're a mom with a newborn). But is that truly where we are? Or are we keeping ourselves busy (distracted!) like Martha, and not choosing the better part like Mary?
Can you find 5…10…15 minutes more to pray? (I'm asking myself, too! I literally stopped in the middle of writing this email to pray a Seven Sorrows chaplet. Because I don't pray enough either!)
…this humble awareness (of what distracts us) before the Lord should awaken our preferential love for him and lead us resolutely to offer him our heart to be purified.
We should love Him above all else. And we when we choose to make our busyness more important than our prayer time, we are not putting God first.
Let us return to Him over and over - for He is LOVE and MERCY. He will always be waiting with open arms.❤️
My encouragement for you to seek the sacred this week:
- Make an effort to pray more, however that looks for your life. Whether it's 5 minutes more per day, or every Friday, or after the kids are in bed, etc. - start praying. And in case you're like me: don't get caught up in doing it perfectly, just start.
- Pray this prayer (right now if you can!):
O my God, my firm belief is, that your eyes are fixed on me at this moment. The angels are now trembling before you, and can I, a poor nothing, presume to appear in your holy presence? Pardon my sins and unworthiness, and enable me to invoke you, the best of fathers.
O divine spirit of love, of light and of life, enliven me in my devotions; enlighten my mind with your heavenly rays; inflame my will with the fire of your divine love; destroy in me the spirit of the world and its dissipation; let me taste how sweet the Lord is, and render me acceptable to His divine Majesty.
O my God, dispel the darkness of my understanding by the beaming of your countenance; strengthen its weakness and disperse the gloom of worldly distractions, that nothing may ever come between me and you, the sole object of my love. Amen.
Here's the entire paragraph from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction. It can affect words and their meaning in vocal prayer; it can concern, more profoundly, him to whom we are praying, in vocal prayer (liturgical or personal), meditation, and contemplative prayer. To set about hunting down distractions would be to fall into their trap, when all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart: for a distraction reveals to us what we are attached to, and this humble awareness before the Lord should awaken our preferential love for him and lead us resolutely to offer him our heart to be purified. Therein lies the battle, the choice of which master to serve. CCC 2729
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