Monday Musings - Be Tenacious

I know the importance of praying. It is a lesson I learned early on in my spiritual journey. Many saints have made it clear that I must pray and that I must never abandon my prayer - no matter how tired, distracted, arid or depressed I may be. The minute I abandon prayer “the slide toward eternal damnation begins.”

Thankfully, I do have a daily routine of prayer that has provided a certain rhythm to my life - one that I can easily lose if I put off or do not say my prayers. So, I persevere in my prayer even when I do not seem to get anything out of it, even when God seems so far away and uninterested in me, even when I have sinned, lost my temper or become angry. At the same time, I recognize far too often, I am merely saying words like a robot - distractedly, too quickly, with little or no reflection. Sometimes, I am just going through my “checklist” but benefiting very little from the effort.

I do not use my own words or express my own feelings as often as I should. Instead, I use the words and prayers of others. I know my morning prayers should prompt me to make a firm and specific resolution for the day – one I should recall and throughout the course of the day. And yet I often fail to do so.

Lord, I ask this of You: let my prayer life never end; let me offer everything I do as a prayer; let me be more attentive and reflective and less mechanical in my prayer life; and never let me give Satan a foothold in my prayer life.

Lord, teach me how to pray as I ought. Let me never forget that You are always at my side. Open my heart and soul that I may hear Your silent voice. Help me to let nothing in my life be more important than You.