Prayer: God is present when our minds wander

With prayer God it is there even when our minds wander. As Catholic Christians, we know that we are called to be people who pray. And indeed, during our early years we were taught to pray. Most of us remember repeating the religious liturgies our parents taught us when we were very small as they sat on the edge of the bed. At first we didn't know exactly what we were saying, but we soon realized we were talking to God and asking Him to bless everyone we loved including our pets who were part of the family anyway.

Many of us struggle with prayer

Many of us struggle with prayer. We learned to pray as we grew up, especially as we were preparing for our own first holy communion. Certainly sang hymns in church, which, in fact, were often liturgies of faith, love and worship of the Lord. We learned to pray an act of contrition as we approached the sacrament of confession. We prayed before meals and for our dead when we gathered for the funerals of loved ones. And we all probably remember praying fervently, no matter what age we were or are, in the face of a crisis of a threat of some kind. In a word, prayer is an integral part of our life as believers. And even those who seemingly drift away are likely still praying at times, even though they may feel embarrassed about it.

Praying is simply talking to God

Praying is first of all, we must remind ourselves that prayer is simply talk to God. Prayer is not determined by grammar or vocabulary; it is not measured in terms of length and creativity. It is simply talking to God, no matter what conditions we are in! It could be a simple cry: "Help, Lord, I'm in trouble!"It could be a simple plea,"Lord, I need you" or "Sir, I'm all messed up ”.

prayer is when we receive the Eucharist at Mass

One of the most precious moments we have for prayer is when we receive the Eucharist at Mass. Imagine, we have the Eucharistic Jesus in our hand or on our tongue, the same Jesus we heard about in the gospel that was just read. What an opportunity it is to pray for our families “; ask forgiveness for our shortcomings "I'm sorry, Lord, for hurting you in what I said to my friend "; ask, thank or praise Jesus who died for us and risen to promise us eternal life "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will never die.

I want to mention something that is very important in prayer. During mass, or even in private moments when we can sit and talk with the Lord, we can find our minds full of distractions, wandering all over the place. We can become discouraged because, even though we intend to pray, we seem weak in our efforts. Remember, prayer is in the heart, not in the head.

Silent prayer

The importance of silent prayer. The time we are distracted does not mean that our prayer time is wasted. Prayer is in the heart and in the intention and therefore the time we give to the Lord in prayer, whether with the rosary or in church before mass or perhaps in a moment of silent prayer when we are alone. Whatever it is, if it is our desire to pray, then it is prayer despite distractions and worries. God always looks at our heart.

Perhaps you have felt unable to pray because you fear that you cannot do it perfectly or you think that your efforts are not worth it or are even pleasing to the Lord. Let me make sure that your wish is in itself pleasing to God. God can perfectly read and understand your heart. He loves you.