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A. What is the best way to handle distractions during prayer?
A. What is the best way to handle distractions during prayer?
- Try your best to put the distracting thoughts and images aside.
- A good way is to place them in an imaginary bag and to offer the bag with your concerns and preoccupations to God.
- If you keep pushing them aside and they keep coming back, then ask: “Dear God, what are you trying to tell me through these distractions?”
B. How do I know it is God I am hearing?
B. How do I know it is God I am hearing?
- Follow inner movements as you “hear.”
- Ask: to where am I being led?
- Toward God: toward greater peace, love, honesty, hope, solidarity…
- Away from God: a lessening of peace, faith, hope, love, toward unwillingness to sacrifice, to face the truth, or to grow closer to others.
- Reflect after sometimes to confirm where I am actually led (toward or away from God). In short, we have to follow our unique sense of God (inner or effective movements) and where we are being led. We can learn from past experiences to hone in our sense of God and where we are being led.
C. How do I know I am not just talking to myself?
C. How do I know I am not just talking to myself?
- Prayer is essentially about listening and “letting God be God.” Prayer takes some effort, but if we are “talking” too much or doing most of the work, then we can simply pause, listen, and just be. Be with God. Let God love you.
- Directing one’s thoughts to God or addressing God directly are good ways to ensure that we are not merely thinking to ourselves.
D. How many kinds of prayer are there?
D. How many kinds of prayer are there?
Four kinds: adoration, forgiveness, thanksgiving, and petition.
(note: one way to help us easily remember is ACTS. A stands for Adoration. C stands for contrition. T stands for thanksgiving. S stands for supplication)
- Adoration: acknowledging God as God. After hearing she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus, Mary praised God, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord…” (Luke 1:46-55).
- Forgiveness: acknowledging we are sinners and need God’s mercy. David asked God for forgiveness after committing adultery and murder: “A clean heart create for me, God….” (Ps 51:12-14).
- Thanksgiving: acknowledging all things in this world are gifts from God. In the Psalms, we find many great expressions of thanks...“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all you lands....” (Ps 100)
- Petition: acknowledging the need for God’s help. At the Last Supper, Jesus prayed to His Father for His disciples...“I pray ….that they may all be one….” (Jn 17:20-24)
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