Have you ever wondered what life would be like if you could not speak to God? Living this way would be the greatest tragedy, I am sure, since we are designed to be in full communion with Him. Thankfully, we do not have to worry about this situation happening, because God gave us the gift of prayer. He gave us various beautiful means of speaking with him. Whether through Rosaries or novenas, we know that having God present in our lives is a must.
So, let us remember never to take this precious gift from God for granted. By this, I mean to pray not only when things get rough or when things are good but to live a life of continuous prayer. A good practice is to start praying a morning offering every day, as shown in the following example.
“O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month. Amen.”
Remember also never to become discouraged by lengthy prayers. Even if the Rosary seems too daunting of a prayer, you can always pray one of the decades or even a few Hail Mary prayers for your petitions while meditating on a mystery. Starting small and working your way up is not a bad thing. Do not forget that your faith is a journey. Faith is not so much as the spiritual act you do but the love you put into the action which matters most.
In the past, I did not pray every day. But after I started daily prayer, I noticed God transforming my heart. I started to recognize and appreciate His blessings in everyday life. I started to notice the sins I struggle with and strived to do better the next day. This awareness can only happen through God’s grace. This gratitude can only happen through Love Himself: God Almighty.
Note, too, that you can always switch up your devotions, which is what I do. Whether by watching Livestream Adoration or listening to Sacred Scripture meditation, I like to put myself in God’s presence. I like to fill myself up with His mercy, grace, and virtues. For we are here on this earth to become like Him and be united with Him at the end of our lives.
If our minds are drawing blank as to what prayer to say, we can always pray the Our Father. Christ Himself gave us this perfect prayer that we should memorize and pray with all our hearts:
“‘This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one. If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.’” (Matthew 6:9-15)
So make a morning offering today and throughout the day continually lift your heart and mind up to God. He is a loving Father who wants you to grow into sainthood. Pray to him and be thankful for this gift. He is listening.
To wrap up, here are a few inspiring quotes on prayer that I hope meditating on will jumpstart your prayer life.
“I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers to God make, and all the people those little prayers were destined to affect, and all the consequences of those effects down through the centuries, we would be so paralyzed with awe at the power of prayer that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.” Peter Kraft
“Were you to ask what are the means of overcoming temptations, I would answer: The first means is prayer; the second is prayer; the third is prayer; and you should you ask me a thousand times, I would repeat the same.” Saint Alphonsus Liguori
“Prayer is the oxygen of the soul.” Saint Padre Pio
“The first rule for prayer, the most important first step, is not about how to do it, but to just do it; not to perfect and complete it but to begin it. Once the car is moving, it’s easy to steer it in the right direction, but it’s much harder to start it up when it’s stalled. So stop reading and start praying. Right now.” Peter Kreeft
1 thought on “Thankful for Prayer”
Dear Diana, This was me: “in the past I did not pray every day.” Maybe you and I were separated at birth. One thing that can be a very short, yet effective prayer is to slow down the Sign of the Cross, as St Bernadette did. People could pick her out – before she entered the convent- by how slowly and reverently she made the Sign of the Cross – she said this was how “The Lady” did it when they began the rosary.. I have begun adding a phrase: In the name of the Father, thank you; and of the Son, thank you; and of the Holy Spirit, thank you. On an Inspiration Scale, your article gets 6 stars out of 5. Thank you, Guy, Texas