How to Pray

Satan’s greatest work on earth as he seeks to devour souls that are called to heaven is to keep us from praying and getting them to stop that journey. When we look at three disastrous and diabolical revolutions that have taken place over the last five hundred years–the Protestant, the French, and Communist–we find that what they all have in common is the dissolution of monasteries. People who dedicate themselves to prayer are seen as enemies of the State and must be eliminated. They are not considered to be as useful to the State....

This article is intended to help the reader to learn to pray and particularly to learn how to pray in silence...

To begin to acquire the good habit of silent prayer (or what we call mental prayer) is not easy for a variety of reasons... To sit alone in your room... or in a church before the Blessed Sacrament and talk to God requires fortitude, patience, and a variety of other virtues, the most important of which are faith, hope, and charity. Faith that He is really here and everywhere, Hope that you will receive what you ask for and that prayer really is of benefit for your soul, and Charity–you pray because you love God above all things and you want to share yourself with Him and you want Him to envelop you with His love. This is no easy task, but well worth the effort.
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A great article from Father McCloskey. I have not yet succeeded in cultivating the consistent habit of mental prayer; I think I know what I need to do for Lent. Mental prayer feels weird and unnatural to me -- I'm just not good at it. But the truth is, I just haven't been patient. Every other skill I've learned -- algebra, diagramming sentences, playing scales, typing, taking blood pressures, cake decorating, HTML -- felt weird and unnatural at first. I only learned those skills when I ignored my initial failures and kept at it. If I was willing to show a little fortitude and learn how to hold a pastry bag....