A guide to “pray without ceasing”
This past Sunday I challenged the parishioners of St. Monica to find a day sometime before Christmas and attempt to have a day of “prayer without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Here are a few “tips” if you would like to try it:
A guide to “prayer without ceasing”
1) A place for prayer: Prepare a little altar or sacred space in your home. Use a cross, candle, Christian image, and an open bible. You can be as creative as you like but have it be some expression of Catholic Christian faith. This will serve as a place you can go in your home when you have a free moment to pray. The idea here is to create a space for scheduled and unscheduled prayer. We have places for computers and televisions in our homes, God should have a space as well. Be mindful of this altar throughout your day, and seek it out when you have a free moment.
2) Morning Prayer: Wake up 15 minutes before you normally do, and go to that altar that you created in your home and pray. Again, be as creative as you like. The key is time dedicated specifically for Jesus and not other things. You can read your Scriptures, pray a rosary, repeat the Our Father, or sit in silence looking at Cross. But begin the day with prayer…this is important.
2) Your transportation: Most of us have a car or spend quite a bit of time in one. If you are going to spend an entire day in prayer, I think
it is important to “spiritually prepare” your car. Purchase a few CDs, or download something onto your digital storage device…but make sure they are spiritual in nature. Sacred Music, the Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Scriptures on CD, etc. Don’t purchase a talk on a spiritual topic or just listen to Catholic radio. Remember this is a day of prayer, not catechesis or education. You want something that is going to help you encounter the presence of Christ.
Of course, not everyone has a car and must use other forms of transportation like airplanes, buses, and bicycles. Carrying the rosary with you, a sacred image, or a Bible is great for planes and other types of public transportation. For cyclers or walkers, perhaps just a repeated memorized prayer might be helpful.
3) The Workplace: This is probably the most challenging place to “pray without ceasing.” Many of our jobs whether we are raising children, in a factory, looking for work, or have our own office, demand much of our focus, time, and attention. A couple of things might be helpful here:
a) Memorize a short word or phrase like “Come Holy Spirit” or “Lord Jesus have mercy on me a sinner.” Repeat that phrase over and over…every time you think of it, say it.
b) Pray before you do anything: before you answer email, before you talk to somebody, before lunch, before you begin work on any major project. Take all thoughts, distractions, errands, and people to prayer as often as possible.
c) Who is the person you find most difficult to get along with at work? Pray for that person all day.
d) Keep a little religious object on your desk, in your pocket, around your wrist or neck as a reminder that this is your day of prayer.
e) Other ideas that may come along. Again the key is focusing your mind and heart all day on Jesus in whatever way you can.
4) Be intentional!!! This is the key to the whole day. The main goal is to go about your life as you normally do but to be looking for every
possible opportunity to place yourself in the presence of God. Pray before you do anything, and take every opportunity you can think of and turn it into a time, however brief, of prayer.
5) Night Prayer: Before bed, spend 15 minutes in prayer. Thank God for five things, petition God for five things. Make an examination of conscience, say an act of contrition, and go to bed. If you have trouble sleeping, think of the prayer that makes you most tired, and pray it as you drift off to sleep.
To “pray without ceasing” acknowledges that we have all sorts of people, places, and things in our lives. Praying in the midst of all of this is a reminder that our hope does not rest with these temporal relationships. Rather they are all part of a much more fundamental relationship that should inform them all: The saving power and great love of Jesus Christ for each one of us.
God Bless,
Fr. Todd
