“And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the hills
by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.”
-Matthew 14:23
Meditation
One challenge that everyone faces with daily prayer is distractions.
To battle distractions, we need to recognize two different types of distractions – internal and external. External ones are the ones that come from the outside. The biggest one today is all of our technology. Simple answer – leave it outside of your prayer time. Or if you are using prayers on your phone – put it in the airplane mode before you begin your prayer.
The internal ones are more difficult to battle. These are all the internal things that pass through your mind while you are trying to pray. The best advice we’ve heard about internal distractions is to turn them into prayer. So if you’re trying to pray and you keep thinking about something major in your job, simply use that as an opportunity to ask God to help you with that issue. It could be something with your wife or children, your finances or a temptation, all of them can be an opportunity to take that specific issue to prayer asking for God’s help. Suddenly, your distractions have become a pathway to prayer.
Prayer for Lent
O gracious Master, infuse in our hearts the spotless light of Your Divine Wisdom and open the eyes of our mind that we may understand the teachings of Your Gospel. Instill in us also the fear of Your blessed commandments, so that having curbed all carnal desires, we may lead a spiritual life, both thinking and doing everything to please You. For You, O Christ, our God, are the enlightenment of our souls and bodies; and to You we render glory, together with Your eternal Father, and with Your all holy, life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and forever. Amen.
