Prayer
Faithfulness Over Quantity
"There is a risk of taking on more than one could handle and end up discouraged. A relatively short time (twenty minutes or half an hour), spent faithfully on mental prayer every day, is better than two hours now and then." page 84 This is a gentle reminder that faithfulness beats quantity. A moment in prayer daily beats hours of prayer that leads to dis…
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Prayer
Thirst for the Beloved
"Experience shows that to pray well and to be brought to the state of passive prayer in which God and the soul communicate in depth, the heart must be pierced—pierced, that is, by the love of God, wounded by thirst for the Beloved. Only through such a wound can prayer truly descend into the heart and lodge there. God must touch us at such a deep level of our b…
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Prayer
Mental Prayer
Mental prayer can be described as a form of contemplation in which one seeks to deepen their relationship with God through inward reflection, silent meditation, and attentive listening. This type of prayer involves focusing one's mind and heart on God's presence within oneself and in the world, and allowing God's love and grace to transform one's thou…
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Prayer
God is Always Active
"What matters in mental prayer is not so much what we do, as what God does in us. It is enormously liberating to know this, for sometimes we can do nothing at all in mental prayer. Really, though, it doesn’t matter much, because even if we can’t do anything, God can. In fact, he is always acting in the depths of our soul, even if we don’t realize it. The essenti…
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Prayer
Are You Too Busy Working For God?
"Let those who are fully taken up with activity, who imagine they can move the world by their preaching and their other external works, reflect here for a moment; they will easily understand that they would be much more useful to the Church, and more pleasing to the Lord, not to mention the good example they would set around them, if they dedicated half their …
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Prayer
Prayers for August 2023
“Consecrating ourselves to Mary means accepting her help to offer ourselves and the whole of mankind to him who is holy, infinitely holy; it means accepting her help—by having recourse to her motherly heart, which beneath the cross was opened to love for every human being, for the whole world—in order to offer the world, the individual human being, mankind as a whole…
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Prayer
Not Enough Tme
"THE PROBLEM OF NOT ENOUGH TIME 'I’d really like to do mental prayer, but I don’t have the time.' How often this has been said! And in a hyperactive world like our own, the difficulty is a real one and should not be underestimated. But time is not always the real problem. That real problem is knowing what really matters in life. As a contemporary aut…
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Prayer
Rescue Your Time
"Regarding this problem of time, we should make an act of faith in Jesus’ promise: 'There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or land, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time!' (Mk 10:29). It is legitimate to apply this to chronological time as well: whoever giv…
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Prayer
Put Down the Phone!
"No sooner has he started to pray than conjured up by his inner unrest, all sorts of other things clamor for attention: a task at work, a conversation, an errand, a newspaper, a book. All these suddenly appear most important, and prayer seems a sheer waste of time. But no sooner has he stopped praying than there is plenty of time, and he fritters it away with …
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Prayer
Forget Your Feelings
"It is often asserted that true prayer cannot be willed or ordered, but must flow spontaneously, like water from the spring, from within. If this does not happen, if it does not well up from our innermost being, one had better not pray at all, for forced prayer is untrue and unnatural. This sounds, at first, convincing; however, if one has gained a fuller under…
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Prayer
Importance of Mental Prayer
"First, we need to be convinced of the vital importance of mental prayer. 'He who avoids prayer is avoiding everything that is good,' said St. John of the Cross. All the saints have spent time praying. Those who were most involved in the service of their neighbor were also contemplatives. St. Vincent de Paul began each day with two or three hours of men…
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Prayer
In God's Presence
"To hear the words of God is a serious matter. At Mount Sinai, the people of Israel prepared themselves for three days before God spoke to them the words of the covenant. In the Mass, we prepare ourselves for this holy encounter with God's Word through the Introductory Rites - the Sign of the Cross, the Confiteor, the Kyrie , and the Gloria . Having marked…
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Prayer
Discouragement in Prayer
"Since purity of intention consists of seeking and pleasing God instead of oneself, the devil sometimes tries to discourage us with the following argument. 'How can you imagine your prayer could ever please God, when you are so full of faults!' The reply is truth at the heart of the Gospel- a truth that the Holy Spirit moved St. Therese of Lisieux to r…
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Prayer
We Are The Tabernacle
"Therefore the illustrious contemplative often complained that many souls given to prayer seek God very far from them in a distant Heaven, instead of seeking and very easily finding him in their own heart."pg 11 We are the Tabernacle! Oh Lord, reveal yourself to me in a new way!
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Prayer
Perpetual Adoration
"Not enough stress is laid on the fact that, though we cannot, whenever we wish, enjoy the company of the God-Man on our altars, it is, however, possible for us to withdraw, like St. Catherine of Siena, into ourselves to commune with the God of our hearts." pg 4 Drawing our attention to our Lord's dwelling place within, we enter adoration. As we mov…
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Prayer
3 Practices to Grow Closer to God
Last time we spoke of stillness . I am still working on digital detox and I will try to remember to follow up on that as I may need to experiment. I'm struggling to give up phone time in my relax time. Here are some ways that I might encourage you to embrace to grow closer to Our Lord and Savior: 1. Prayer and Contemplation: "Prayer is the inner bath of…
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Prayer
Prayers for May 2023
I will be honest and say this is the first month where I want to do too many novenas! I want to do one for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, for St. Joan of Arc, and for Corpus Christi. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. What are you going to do?
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Prayer
Building Stillness in 5 Small Steps
As I learn more about Carmelite spirituality and mental prayer, the need for stillness impresses upon my soul. The Lord beckons me closer. Here are 5 small steps to help build this skill. Prayer: This involves turning your attention to God and communicating with him. By quieting your mind and heart, you can create a space for God to speak to you and for you to list…
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Prayer
Prayers for April 2023
We start this month thick with prayers as Phil's mom passed this morning. I will be asking my family to join with me in saying a novena for Divine Mercy for Mrs. Elizabeth Butler Watson. April is the month of the Blessed Sacrament! April 7th consider a novena for St. Bernadette for healing from illness or those suffering from poverty. St. Bernadette's f…
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Prayer
Prayers for March 2023
Let us be rejoice in our Lord who lifts us up and sustains us on this journey! Here are some prayers to consider for the month of March. I love you and I'm praying for you! March is the month of Saint Joseph. March 4th start a novena for Grace. Feast Day is March 12th. March 8th start a novena for St. Patrick. It would be appropriate for Ireland and any ot…
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