Prayer. Is it Worth it?
Of course, you’re going to know what I’m going to say: Yes, it is totally worth it!
Prayer helps you a ton. Here are just a quick list of what’s so good about prayer:
It calms you when you need it most.
It centres your thoughts on what is important and puts in perspective the worries you have.
It ressures you that you are not alone and that all that happens is for a reason.
It gives you greater meaning to your life.
So yea, if I told you that something else would give you all this, you’d go for it but when we think of prayer, we think effort, silence, unknown territory, etc.
And all those things are true:
Prayer does take effort, but not so much as you might think. You might not see the benefits of prayer, there and then, but afterwards you will notice it in your life. It will help you do your prayer with far more faith when you see how it helps you.
Prayer is silent. Something that we find hard but we so need it. Experience silence for 10 minutes and you’ll know what I mean.
Prayer is unknown territory. When you pray, it’s not just you - God is in that conversation too; and yes, God can be daunting but He does love you a ton. He does want the best for you. And when you do have that genuine friendship with Him, you’ll experience the truth of this - He wants the Best for You!
So tips! How do you pray anyway?
OK, so let’s distinguish - there is mental prayer and vocal prayer. Vocal are prayers that we say with our lips: Our Father, Hail Mary, etc. Mental prayer is what we’re talking about here in this Blog post, it’s when you don’t use your lips but connect with Our Lord in your heart and mind. Spookey? Lol. Well actually it sounds odd but in practice, when you do it, you’ll experience that it’s not.
So here are some tips:
Use something that will help guide your prayer
I suggest two things:
A Notebook & Pen.
Read or listen to something short and sweet and then talk to Our Lord about it. The notebook helps to jot down your thoughts.
Be in a Church
You can do prayer anywhere but it’s made a hundred times easier if you visit a Church and sit down in front of Our Lord present in the Tabernacle. It’s amazing the difference!
Our Lord is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. If you find it hard to believe, just ask Him to help you to believe, and He will!
If you just sit there for 10 minutes and dedicate that 10 minutes to give your attention to Our Lord, to talk to Him silently in your heart. That’s prayer.
Be Yourself
Our Lord is the person who knows you the most in this world. You don’t need to impress Him. When you are as honest as you can with Him, it’s amazing how helpful your prayer be can. Just pour your heart out. Tell Him everything that is bothering you. Here’s some quotes from great Saints who basically say the same thing but more beautifully :)
St Josemaria:
'To pray is to talk with God. But about what?' About what? About Him, about yourself: joys, sorrows, successes and failures, noble ambitions, daily worries, weaknesses!
John Paul II
How to pray? This is a simple matter. I would say: Pray any way you like, so long as you do pray.
RESOURCES
iPraywiththeGospel is a great website. There is also an App which is really useful.
10 Minutes Prayer with Jesus: this website even sends you the links personally to your WhatsApp. Link
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Catherine McMahon