Being Catholic and Renewing My Prayer Life

One thing I love about being Catholic, is the rich history, the lives of the Saints, the volumes of their writings that guide us on how to live, the memorized prayers, ...that even if you fall away, come rushing back to your tongue the minute you start praying them again, and the beauty and power of the Sacraments.

I can't say I always had this appreciation. I never had a desire to leave the Catholic Church, but I often wished we were more filled with the Holy Spirit and had more "vigor" in our masses. I felt that our masses were stale and expressionless. I thought a bunch of old men ran it and made up rules that were difficult for us. It seemed that the Catholic Church needed to change with the times and it seemed outdated. I don't feel that way anymore. I'm feeling the Holy Spirit moving quite profoundly in our church! I know now that the beauty of the Church is that it hasn't changed! It stands firmly rooted on the original Truths and guidelines of the early church! I'm so grateful for the Church now, more than ever.

It's been a sneaky, slow process with me. I didn't realize it was happening, but I'd have to say it started when I began to read from the lives of the Saints (and future saints)...Terese of Lisieux, JPII, Mother Teresa, Anne Catherine Emmerich. They have all had a role in reshaping my view of the church. I no longer think that the "old men running the church" are just making up rules. I really believe that they are divinely guided and have adhered to the Church doctrine.

The Catholic Church has never been perfect and it never will be...but neither am I. The Church is my home. It raised me on Catholic schooling. The songs, the prayers and the whole mass and forever imprinted on my brain. I used to think of memorized prayers as brainless. That we do them without thinking and it's not really praying. I preferred spontaneous prayer. Now I incorporate the rote prayers into my day because I'm having a renewed appreciation for them. I DO have to be VERY careful to not just recite them without thinking. But they are beautifully written and guide us on how to pray. And since they are memorized, I can pray them anywhere, at any time.

The book, A Mother's Rule of Life has helped my prayer life immensely! I'm no longer making my children my excuse for not having a good prayer life. I've got times of prayer written into my daily schedule. I always thought I should have one big block of time to pray, and that seemed unreachable. But now I've realized that small blocks throughout the day are more doable and maybe even more desirable....especially for my life right now. It is keeping me focused on God through out the day and it's helping me to make everything a prayer.

When I made up my prayer schedule, I consulted the catechism. Holly Pierlot (the author of A Mother's Rule of Life) does not even begin to tell you what your prayer schedule should be or how it should be composed. In reading the Catechism, I found the many forms of prayer: Blessing and adoration, petition (asking forgiveness, the coming of God's Kingdom, our needs), intercession (praying for others), thanksgiving and praise. I realized the Our Father has all of this in one prayer! So I decided to say that daily. I felt that the Our Father should be followed by the Hail Mary and Glory Be. After that it felt natural to say the O My Jesus prayer. This takes one minute to say all four. I thought, "I can do that!". I do this in the shower.

Morning Offering-- Then I thought I should start doing a morning offering. This is what you pray when you first get out of bed to offer your day to God. This can be in your own words, but I decided to use the St. Ignatius prayer because I have it memorized as a song: Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess, You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more." This prayer feels more natural to me than the official Morning Offering.

Mass Readings and Reflection-- I also felt that it was important to read scripture daily. I'm bad at just reading the Bible in order. I decided the mass readings are the perfect way for me to get the scripture in small peices. I use "One Bread, One Body" to reflect on the readings. I have the reflections e-mailed to me daily. You can do this by signing up at http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp . I try to do this in the morning. Sometimes I will write in my "prayer journal" the message from the reading or a challenge for myself.

Thanksgiving, Petitions and Intercessions--This is my night time prayer. I write down in my "Thank you, God" journal, what I am grateful for with my day. Then I follow up with my petitions and interecessions. These are all written in my binder so I don't forget someone I should be praying for.

This completes my prayer schedule. I've been doing it for about two weeks now. One thing I constantly remind myself...something Mother Teresa said, "God does not ask us to be successful, only faithful". This is my motto for my prayer time. If I forget to pray, I don't berate myself, I just keep trying to do better. I keep practicing it so it becomes more of a habit. I kept saying before that I was a spontaneous prayer and not a scheduled person. I don't like to get up early for anything! These were excuses. I was relying on spontaneity to guide me into prayer, but sometimes you need to pray even when the "spirit" isn't there. It's something we should do to take care of our souls, just like food is nutrition for our bodies. I know this now and I'm committed. This schedule fits my lifestyle. Each peice takes 1o minutes or less! There is no reason I can't do this!

Another important facet of praying is to offer everything up to God while you are doing it, then you make your day a prayer! Holly Pierlot reminded me of this in her book. I love what she said: "I folded the clothes 'just so' for love of Jesus. I washed the table as if Jesus were coming to supper. I hugged my children as if they were Jesus himself". I love that! Mother Teresa was always saying she saw Jesus in every poor person she served...why not do this with our very own family! She gave concrete examples for me to follow. I try to do this. I even do it in exasperation sometimes, "Jesus, I do this for you!" as I take off Mary's clothes to go potty (she has to have everything off) after I had just got her ready to head out the door! Sometimes I feel silly offering up things like this when the saints offered up so much more, but I truly believe God wants everything done for him, with love...especially the little things.

I'm sorry I've been a bad blogger lately. This is what I've been busy with! You have to buy this book. Even if it's for the prayer section alone! It changed me and showed me how a busy mom can find time to pray....and even HAS to.