I had this post in my head last night lying in bed. I was trying to pray, for those I love and patience and things like that. I realized that now that I am becoming a catholic, I have no idea how to pray like one. I also can't pray out loud and never really felt comfortable doing that. Take Grace for instance, at meal time, I am so shy about it and I always feel like I'm not saying the right words. It's probably because my husband, a cradle catholic, says his Grace like those guys that host auctions. I feel like now that I am supposed to start learning and using the saints to intercede in prayer, that I am missing some connecting words...specific "trigger" words that will actually get their attention.
Is it not enough to just pray to god? All of my 30 years of prayers have been straight to god. I never thought of praying to his son (who I learned is really him, consubstantial). I never thought to pray to saints. I like the idea, I am not complaining, I just don't know how. I have prayer cards, but how do you just pray your own? I always start with "Dear God" and then I ramble some thoughts in my head of people I love and things I wish would happen.
Any tips or examples you can share?
I also am awkward at praying out loud, especially with other people, and am not so good at suggesting "hey, why don't we say a rosary" or something like that. I guess it's just one more thing for us to both work on, probably by swallowing the fear/feeling silly/whatnot and just doing it. I know it will get easier, kinda like my fear of going to confession...the more often I go, the easier it gets.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you can memorize some of the prayers to the saints, the most common of which are to Mary, it will be a help. You will eventually get used to it, especially if you keep reading the lives of the saints. Most of them are patrons of one thing or another, and that may be helpful to you. St. Anthony of Padua is the patron of lost things, so if you lose your keys you could just say a quick "St. Anthony, please help me find my keys" kinda thing. He and St. Jude Thaddeus (patron of impossible things) are a great
combination.
<3
Just pray from your heart. Don't make it hard. Talk to Jesus, Mary and the Saints like you would talk to a friend because that is what they are.
ReplyDeleteoh, and this is a good blog to follow..... Mr. Janaro is really good at writing things from the heart....if you haven't already found him
ReplyDeleteand I forget once again to paste: http://johnjanaro.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteThere's no rule that says you have to pray a certain way. There's an old adage: Pray the way you can, not the way you can't. Trust the Holy Spirit to lead you. Catholicism has room for lots of different ways to pray. Some like to pray out loud, others in the quiet of their heart. Some are wordy, others keep it short and sweet. Prayers written by saints are nice when words fail you, but not everyone likes them. Flannery O'Connor (famous author and also Catholic) said she didn't like to use those prayers because it was like putting on someone else's emotions. I like them because they offer me a new window on God, Jesus, or Mary. I think, in order to be really comfortable praying to a saint, you need to get to know them. If there's already someone who interests you read up on that person. Learn about them and make them your friend. Remember too, that when we pray to saints, we're simply asking them to join us in praying to God. For example, sying, "St. Anthony help me find my keys," is sort of like shorthand for, "God, I need to find my keys, but my mind is so busy trying to figure out where they are, I need a mighty prayer warrior who isn't distracted to petition you while I'm looking." After all, it's God, not St. Anthony who ultimately answers every prayer. If you're interested, I've done some posts on different Catholic prayers (Moments of Grace) and prayer practices, like Lectio Divina. Blessings, Karyn@daysofgraceandstumbling
ReplyDeleteIt might make it easier to stick for now to the "prewritten" prayers like saying the rosary and stuff like that. Even though I wasn't raised in the church, my mom grew up Catholic, so it's where we went when we went to church and it's kind of ingrained in me, anyway. So even though I don't really believe -- or maybe I do, I'm never quite sure -- I still say a lot of prayers to saints in my head and it always felt very normal. It seems like maybe for you it's just a habit you need to form.
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