5 Reasons to Pray
Laura DeMaria
Happy Feast of St. Rose of Lima!
On the heels of yesterday’s conversation about prayer as the antidote to today’s shortened attention spans - shortened primarily by social media use - I came across an article, 5 Relationships That Changed When I Deleted Social Media. The author makes greats points about not only reclaiming her attention and focus and being more in the present, but how her relationships with herself, family, and friends improved. I find the point about her relationship with herself improving particularly interesting. It is worth a read. Do you think you would have a similar experience if you deleted your social media apps?
I was also thinking more about the benefits of prayer overall. It is very much the case that God has designed prayer not just to be something that is supplicative - that will “get” us stuff - but that prayer is also good for us. Here are five reasons to pray:
Prayer strengthens your relationship with God
This is the primary reason to pray. We are called to have a relationship with Him, which means we must communicate with Him about what is on our heart. Also, it puts us in the disposition to receive what he has to show us.
Prayer centers you and teaches interior stillness; focus
As discussed yesterday, a fruit of prayer is that interior stillness and focus which then moves into other parts of your life. When I did the 9-month prayer retreat in daily life called the 19th annotation, I was amazed at how my patience increased outside of prayer time. I even began to find value in things like waiting, for example, waiting in line. I was less hurried in the mornings, and less prone to irritation over small inconveniences, and so on.
Prayer is an opportunity to learn humility
Prayer is often not answered the way we would like it to be answered. D’oh! So, it provides an opportunity to grow in humility and say, thine will be done, Lord, not mine.
Prayer is a way to perform an act for others; cultivate a greater sense of the needs of others
How accustomed are we to thinking of ourselves above others - pretty much all the time? And that’s natural. Prayer gives us the chance to look outward, instead, by praying for others. I wrote an article about this last year, For Whom Should I Pray? There are many, many people and causes which need YOUR prayers. Your family, your coworkers, people experiencing pain in all forms.
Prayer is a way to cultivate gratitude. The most basic form of prayer is “Thank you, Lord.” Even when you don’t feel like it!
I think often of what Blessed Solanus Casey said: Thank God ahead of time. I know that every one of us, every day, can think of something to thank God for, even if that is just the fact of being alive. Chances are, there’s so much more in your life, too. And by giving thanks we expand our heart. One of my very original articles at Catholic Stand is on the revelation, Gratitude is a Prayer.
As St. Paul said: pray without ceasing! Form the habit, and let it take the place of something else in your life, like meaningless scrolling. Now get out there and pray!