How to Wholeheartedly Say Our Prayers

The lack of prayer life is a disturbing trend in churches. Our faith has become so washed out and cold that we don't even try to pray. A first step to developing a prayer life is to strive to mindfully say our prayers during mass. When the priest leads us in prayer, we have to do the praying.

In other words, we have to do the action, and wholeheartedly connect with God. This requires our wholehearted attention. This lack of conscious attention can lead to spiritual emptiness over time.

Here are a few ways to ensure that we start genuinely conversing with God before and during mass.

1. Make a decision to be with God before mass. So, before walking into the church, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and make a decision not to look around the church when you enter. Instead, genuflect when we come into church and then genuflect at the pew and kneel and pray.

2. If you wear corrective lenses, you may want to remove your glasses to alleviate distractions. I use this trick a lot so that I won't be tempted to look around. Close your eyes. This will further encourage turning inward.

3. Kneel, make the sign of the cross, and genuinely pray to God. Close your eyes to block out any distractions. Don't pay attention to people in the pews in front or behind. Just pray and focus on our Lord Jesus Christ.

4. If other people in your parish are in the habit of talking before mass, use ear plugs to block out the noise. This will also help focus even more.

5. After praying for five or so minutes, take out your Rosary and say at least one to two decades. Again, focus on the Rosary. Don't worry about who is coming into church.

6. Read or re-read the daily readings for the week to encourage carefully listening to the priest as he reads the Gospel. Think about the Gospel. How does it relate to your life? What is it telling you? Be focused.

So, there is much more that we should be doing before mass than looking around. It is important that we are focused and genuine in the Lord's house.

By being genuine, we will perhaps even be an example to others about how to pray before mass. After a while, we may be setting a precedent through our behaviour.

Only we can change our unfocused state of mind. We can do so by taking small steps towards becoming more conscious during prayer time.

Irene S. Roth writes for teens, tweens, and kids about self-empowerment. She is the author of over thirty-five books and over five hundred online articles. She also has four hundred and sixty published book reviews both online and in print. In addition, she published a book about on how not to scattered in our culture. Please double click on this link for more information.    https://www.amazon.com/Scattered-Scattered-Mind-Twenty-First-Century-ebook/dp/B0193PC5L4?ie=UTF8&qid=1451453621&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1


 By Irene Roth

Article Source: How to Wholeheartedly Say Our Prayers