A healthy and fruitful prayer life is a true gift, but how does one accomplish this? As a Christian, prayer life is necessary as both an act of faith and consolation that we have a Father always listening and looking after us. The discipline of prayer is, well, a discipline needing to be attempted daily, if not hourly.
At age 12 or so, riding my bike, realizing that I was thinking about God, I wanted to keep remembering him every day. This has stuck with me. As a writer and life student of Catholicism and Bible reflection, I have learned about God’s fatherhood throughout salvation history. As the years go by, I seem to go deeper into reflection of our Lord’s glory and love for us. I find myself thanking him for his sacrifice, love, and forgiveness in simple words daily.
As a Catholic Christian, I am part of a faith that teaches many ways to pray and communicate with our Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Rosary is where we meditate on Jesus’ life and his mother’s. The Mass is where we are both forgiven and fed, along with praying novenas, adoration, and rote prayers; the list goes on.
The sign of the cross is a simple prayer with so much power acknowledging the blessed Trinity. Who do you relate to the most? I seem to always address my prayer with “Dear Father …” But my little thoughts throughout the day are directed to Jesus and his sacrifice in thanksgiving and appreciation, especially during Mass and my time in the Adoration Chapel.
Probably the biggest hangup and hindrance in prayer is our busy brains. Interruptions that happen during our Rosary, meditation, adoration, and Mass. Some job that needs our attention, children, chores, issues that we get caught up in. Daily living seems to derail our thoughts and our prayer goes awry. Here is where discipline comes in; we have to redirect our thoughts and get back to our prayer. Reciting a Hail Mary, the Lord’s Prayer, the Jesus prayer, or even just the Sign of the Cross will get us back. With daily practice our communications with our heavenly Father will become more and more fruitful.
My prayer for you and me this year is for a stronger, more fruitful prayer life!
Copyright 2018 Ebeth Weidner
This article was originally published at CatholicMom.com and is shared here with permission.
