Mental Prayer: Commit to Pray Every Day

Prayer is the foundation of the spiritual life and is where we will find the beautiful gifts of the Spirit so that we can live out the second greatest commandment to love thy neighbor as ourselves.

If you do not pray, you will not be saved (St. Augustine, Bishop, Doctor of The Church).

Did you know that we must pray mental prayer every day if we want to advance in our spiritual lives and continue on the path of holiness? We are called to have our own spiritual, mystical, and supernatural relationship with God through prayer.

All the saints became saints because of mental prayer (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of The Church).

The first commandment is to love thy God with all your mind, heart, and soul. This means we should worship and praise Him. He thirsts for us in that intimate time of prayer and wants us to thirst for Him in the same way. Prayer is communion with Him and mental prayer is a time for us to quiet our minds to hear His voice and do His Will in our lives.

Levels of Prayer

Many of us pray vocal prayer, which is the first level. There are nine levels of prayer and mental prayer is the second level and many of us struggle to get into or beyond this level of prayer.

Meditation is the gateway to all the forms of higher levels of prayer (St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of The Church).

I am sure everyone wants to deepen their relationship with God, but not everyone takes the step and makes the commitment to schedule a time to pray every day.

When we pray, we should approach the Lord in humility and ask Him to help us pray as we ought. We should be on our knees as His servants and surrender to His power to help us live virtuous lives and to avoid sin. He is our strength in our weakness.

Without mental prayer, it is impossible to avoid venial sin (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of The Church).

Struggles to Pray

We may struggle when we try to pray because we are not comfortable with silence, we are distracted or we are not sure how to hear God’s voice. This is normal, it is as if we are learning a language or a new skill. It may be difficult in the beginning but the more you practice, the easier and more natural it will become.

In mental prayer, if we should do nothing else but to banish distractions and temptations the meditation will be well made (St. Francis de Sales, Bishop, Doctor of The Church).

Do not give up, fight through the distractions, and pray when you do not feel like praying. Remember the more you walk to the Lord, He will draw you near.  The first few levels of prayer require our effort. The next levels are where God draws you toward Him.

Let us remember that the devil labors hard to disturb us at the time of recollection in order to make us abandon it. Let him then, who omits mental prayer on the count of distractions, be persuaded that he gives the light to the devil (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of The Church).

When you decide and commit to pray your life will change. You will live in The Spirit, you will know His voice, you praise Him all day and pray incessantly with your best friend. And best of all, you will seek a virtuous life with peace and joy.

If you want help as you learn how to pray, I am leading a FREE on-line retreat on Saturday, January 23^rd for Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat Center – “Find Joy In Prayer.” If you are not able to attend this live event you can still register and a link to the event will be sent to you. I hope to see you there live with Q&A to help you learn more about prayer and find joy while praying.