We all know the scenario. After stepping into a church or kneeling beside our bed at home, we instantly feel a barrage of distractions. Often we will set-out to pray for 30 minutes and then when the time is done we realize we never actually prayed!
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What if you could put an end to these distractions, or at least understand where they are coming from and know how to deal with them?
Over the next few weeks I will cover some of the most common distractions that we all experience and offer simple, clear advice that will help you overcome these obstacles to a fruitful prayer life.
However, before we begin we must understand the nature of prayer and who exactly is in charge.
One of the most common errors we all commit is in thinking that prayer is similar to a phone call where we pick-up the phone, dial a phone number and wait for God to pick-up on the other side. In this instance, we are the ones who initiate prayer and God is the one who needs to respond.
That is far from the truth.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church clears any misconception as to who is the one who initiates prayer:
“2567 God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer…God’s initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response.” (emphasis added)
What we often forget is that God is always knocking at our door. He wants us to pray and is already there waiting for us. He revealed this same truth in the Gospel of John where Jesus said,
“You have not chosen me: but I have chosen you” (John 15:16).
In the book of Revelation we see God knocking at the door, waiting for us to open our hearts to Him,
“Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20)
Even in the Old Testament, God reassures us through the prophet Jeremiah where He says,
“And you shall call upon me, and you shall go: and you shall pray to me, and I will hear you. You shall seek me, and shall find me: when you shall seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13)
In reality, the phone analogy goes the other way. When we go to pray, it is like picking-up a phone that has been ringing all day long. God has been calling us to pray and is already there on the other side.
This is something we don’t often think about. It is too easy to think of prayer as our own initiative and that God needs to respond to our needs. We fail to realize that our prayer is actually a response to God’s love and that any petition we have is something that God has been waiting to hear.
God wants us to pray and desires us to empty our hearts before Him. He is not a distant God. He is not Zeus. He does not grow angry with our endless petitions or get frustrated when we get distracted during prayer. God is extremely patient with us and waits for us every day.
How can we put this into practice in our own prayer life?
Saint Ignatius of Loyola offers some profound advice that reminds us of God’s presence during prayer. He says,
“A step or two before the place where I am to contemplate or meditate, I will stand for the space of an Our Father and, with my consciousness raised on high, consider how the Lord my God looks upon me. Then I will make an act of reverence or humility” (Spiritual Exercises, #75).
Saint Ignatius instructs us to “consider how the Lord my God looks upon me.” We should always pause before we pray and remember that simple fact. God is already there waiting for us, and beholding us. He is already there looking at us.
Stop for a second. Close your eyes and let God gaze at you. What do you see?
Whether we realize it or not, God is always looking at us and waiting for us to return the gaze and open our hearts to Him. Saint Therese of Lisieux summarizes this aspect of prayer perfectly,
“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” (Story of a Soul)
So before we start to examine the various obstacles to prayer, let us remember that prayer is primarily a response to a God who is constantly seeking us out and is already there waiting for us. This changes our entire approach to prayer and may even remove some initial distractions that prevent us from having an intimate encounter with the God who loves us.