Devotions

[johnnydigit]

sometimes i feel guilty for not doing a Rosary inside the Church, because there's something about an indulgence for doing that. instead i do a Rosary walk in the park, inside while looking at each of the saints in the stained glass windows, or in the courtyard. i don't feel guilty afterwards, because i gained much and i think God wanted me to do it. is it because i'm the active type and do better moving around? i don't know.

sometimes i feel guilty for not spending enough time going deep into each mystery. i just want to get through the devotion out of discipline, and for the intentions.

sometimes i feel guilty for not doing a Rosary at all. instead i may just skip it and go to the meditation, either to just sit quietly with God, or to go over whatever i'm struggling with.

sometimes i have things to do and won't stay as long after Mass. i realize i am not in a structured monastery and cannot commit such a structured schedule. sometimes i have to tend to people immediately and won't get to my prayers at all.

sometimes i replace it with a Litany, Chaplet of Divine Mercy, scriptural/meditated Rosary text, Liturgy of the Hours, saint's reading, etc.

i take it you also are not vowed to a Rule within a community? i am not (yet), and so i am glad that i am able to have the freedom to choose what and how i can do it. is it wrong and should i be more disciplined? not sure. i do try though. i try my best, and know that God knows, and that if i should have done something else (like a Rosary instead of a Chaplet), well i tried my best and God knew that i would choose the Chaplet and so managed to draw good out of it.

somehow i don't think God would want you to be so stressed about how you are praying. Scripture says when you don't have the words, the Spirit will say them for you. perhaps the same is with the devotions - if you don't know what to pray, just stop for a moment and listen.. what do you want to pray? what would make you happy? give you the most peace? He's not a dictator going down a check list or devotions and intentions making sure you do them (at least not until you have a superior!), but a friend who already knows your heart's intentions.

sorry i don't know what you should do exactly. maybe one day, do none of them. just sit for the whole time and be in God's presence. the next day, choose one that you like the most and do it well, and that's all. kinda of like, starting over again..

make a retreat?

prayers!

[tinytherese]

I'm not yet a religious, but a college student. My prayer life has gotten better, but I'd still like to deepen the relationship that I have with Our Lord. If I'm going to be His bride, I have to learn how to properly communicate with Him and also listen to Him.

[Mr.Cat]

[quote][b]Saint John Bosco[/b]
"Do you want our Lord to give you many graces? Visit him often. Do you want him to give you few graces? Visit him seldom. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament are powerful and indispensable means of overcoming the attacks of the devil. Make frequent visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and the devil will be powerless against you."
[url="http://saints.sqpn.com/saintj14.htm"]http://saints.sqpn.com/saintj14.htm[/url][/quote]Pray often and always remain within the Society of the Church, subject yourself to your lawful spiritual superiors, [i][u]in as much they represent Christ[/u][/i], moreover the Supreme Pontiff, [i]the visible head of the Church[/i]. A Saint once commented that with grace the more we will see the magnitude of our good works, but also the gravity of our sins. The more grace is in our souls the more we will see ourselves as God sees us. Do not let temptations from demons or the flesh deter you from prayer. Make your life itself a prayer, [i]no matter how sinful or faulty[/i]; always make one’s life always a prayer and offering.

[MStar]

First off, I am very impressed by how hard you're trying to cultivate your prayer life, that's awsome!!

A couple of things come to my mind...

I think our relationship with God and prayers to Him should come first and foremost, before talking with anyone else (in prayer I mean, like to saints and angels). How can I have a relationship with God if every time I go to pray I only talk to His friends? I can ask them to teach me about Him, but if I really want to get to know someone, I have to go directly to the person and talk to Him.

I like Jonnydigit's post, and I don't think we should feel guilty for not praying in a set specific way. I set aside an hour of "God time" every night, and in that time I pray in many different ways. I just offer that time to God, ask Him how this hour will go tonight, and do what seems most appropriate to me. Sometimes I say the rosary and meditate on Christ's life, asking God to lead me to knowledge about Him as I pray it through Mary's intercession (since that seems to me to be what it's largely about); sometimes I journal, which often looks like a letter to God; sometimes I draw; sometimes I sing (usually prayer-songs I already know, but I've made up my own prayer-songs too); sometimes I sit in silence; sometimes I pour out myself to God, or converse with Him (I think of those times as our "coffee nights" ) Whatever I do, that hour is specifically between me and God. At the end of it then I'll often turn to the intercession of certain Saints and Mary, and pray for other things that people have asked me about, or just issues I want prayed for, like abortion, unity among Christians, etc. But I want to make sure that God has my time and attention before I turn it to other people, even if they're very holy people.

Sometimes I feel that Catholics get too focused on prayers to Mary and the Saints and don't give enough personal time to God Himself. Of course, that could just have been me. That I used to think, "Well, I recieve the Eucharist, so that's plenty of getting to know Christ. I'll give the rest of my prayer time to others." And then too, I feel that many people, esp. Hispanics, give more time, prayer, and honor to Mary than to Jesus, which I can't imagine Mary is very pleased about. Anyways, just some of my views on prayer, hope it helps in some way!

[Mr.Cat]

God Incarnate is indeed the Mediator between “[i]God and men[/i]”, but still Christ is God, so it has been said that Our Lady is indeed the truest Mediatrix between “[i]men and God[/i]”. Likewise it is by God Incarnate that Our Lady, any of the Heavenly Court or Communion of Saints, could be so privileged.

All honor and prayer "[i]given to[/i]" the Heavenly Court ([i]Our Lady, Saint Joseph, Angels, or Saints[/i]) or "[i]with[/i]" the Communion of Saints ([i]Holy Mother Church, Pope, Bishops, Priests, or Catholic Faithful[/i]) [b][i]is always returned to God[/i][/b], in a [u]special[/u] and more [u]intensive[/u] manner.

The Heavenly Court does not stand in the way of Christ nor does it subtract from Christ, rather they glorify and magnify Christ. It is to be recalled they reign with Christ the King.

Edited November 2, 2008 by Mr.CatholicCat

[johnnydigit]

ya that's one thing i like so much about our church, that we have enough to keep you spiritually growing for countless lifetimes. we have tons of devotions available, saints to inspire us, a massive deposit of faith for every possible level, the Sacraments, communities and movements, etc. you can just try stuff out until you find one that you really like. if you get bored, you can try something new, revert back, or find something else. the possibilities are endless.

we can go on and on listing what works best for each of us, but it's up to you to choose. personally i've been fascinated with The Lives Of The Saints by Alban Butler:

[i]Butler's Lives of the Saints is the most revered Catholic book after the Bible, the Missal and The Imitation of Christ. A Saint or two for each day of the calendar. Great for a daily meditation; each life is followed by a "lesson" from the life to help us apply the virtues of the Saint to ourselves. [/i]

[url="http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/index.htm"]http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/index.htm[/url]

are you active in any youth/young adult groups? volunteer? serve the poor? Fr. Groeschel mentions how serving the poor is one of the greatest cures for virtually any anguish, depression, vices, etc. i think these activities really are edifying because you get to see the Gospel really come alive.. you get to see the real effects of all your prayers.. it gives more meaning to your efforts and you get to see them take root and blossom.

so instead of sitting for an hour figuring out how and what to pray, try spending that hour in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter.. then go back and thank Him and help you with more prayer if you still have energy left

[tinytherese]

[quote name='johnnydigit' post='1691913' date='Nov 2 2008, 09:56 PM']ya that's one thing i like so much about our church, that we have enough to keep you spiritually growing for countless lifetimes. we have tons of devotions available, saints to inspire us, a massive deposit of faith for every possible level, the Sacraments, communities and movements, etc. you can just try stuff out until you find one that you really like. if you get bored, you can try something new, revert back, or find something else. the possibilities are endless.

we can go on and on listing what works best for each of us, but it's up to you to choose. personally i've been fascinated with The Lives Of The Saints by Alban Butler:

[i]Butler's Lives of the Saints is the most revered Catholic book after the Bible, the Missal and The Imitation of Christ. A Saint or two for each day of the calendar. Great for a daily meditation; each life is followed by a "lesson" from the life to help us apply the virtues of the Saint to ourselves. [/i]

[url="http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/index.htm"]http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/index.htm[/url]

are you active in any youth/young adult groups? volunteer? serve the poor? Fr. Groeschel mentions how serving the poor is one of the greatest cures for virtually any anguish, depression, vices, etc. i think these activities really are edifying because you get to see the Gospel really come alive.. you get to see the real effects of all your prayers.. it gives more meaning to your efforts and you get to see them take root and blossom.

so instead of sitting for an hour figuring out how and what to pray, try spending that hour in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter.. then go back and thank Him and help you with more prayer if you still have energy left [/quote]

Good suggestions! There's no young adult group in the small town of my college and unfortunately no Newman Center or FOCUS group. It's such a tiny school. I mean like 350 students, no joke. Last year I helped out with CCD at the one catholic church in town and this year am the new parish priest's assistant at RCIA. Also, for my interpersonal communication class, we're supposed to journal twice a week and I bring my faith into it.

[MC IMaGiNaZUN]

I meant to post this a while ago, and got side tracked.

St. John of the Cross talks about a special time in the spiritual life, called the dark night of sense.

This follows a rational in the mystical life of the Church, that was centuries old. It is a three fold process: Purgation, Illumination, Union. The purgation is a process of letting go, a purification. Illumination is a time when God reveals himself in a way he chooses, and union is clarity beyond description.

Anyways, i think you are undergoing a dark night.

Usually we pile devotion upon devotion, or run from one fancy novel chaplet to another novena, and are only enamored with the surface practice, while it bears no fruit. At some point we hit a dead end and just dont care.

IF YOU would rather just sit in silence before JESUS CHRIST whether in the Blessed Sacrament / Adoration, or listen to him in your heart... maybe you are hear.

This is also helpful to manage this process with spiritual direction.

shalom
bro mark

[johnnydigit]

[quote name='MC IMaGiNaZUN' post='1694926' date='Nov 5 2008, 06:56 PM']I meant to post this a while ago, and got side tracked.

St. John of the Cross talks about a special time in the spiritual life, called the dark night of sense.

This follows a rational in the mystical life of the Church, that was centuries old. It is a three fold process: Purgation, Illumination, Union. The purgation is a process of letting go, a purification. Illumination is a time when God reveals himself in a way he chooses, and union is clarity beyond description.

Anyways, i think you are undergoing a dark night.

Usually we pile devotion upon devotion, or run from one fancy novel chaplet to another novena, and are only enamored with the surface practice, while it bears no fruit. At some point we hit a dead end and just dont care.

IF YOU would rather just sit in silence before JESUS CHRIST whether in the Blessed Sacrament / Adoration, or listen to him in your heart... maybe you are hear.

This is also helpful to manage this process with spiritual direction.

shalom
bro mark[/quote]

i haven't read St. John of the Cross yet, but Fr. Groeschel covers these in his book, "Spiritual Passages". he has his postulants read it first and it covers the whole spiritual life in 200 pages or so, from a modern psychological perspective. it was pretty dead on as far as what i've gone through, and i highlighted the heck out of it.

just sitting is very good.

[tinytherese]

Yes, I have been undergoing a dark night of the soul for two years now, which makes discerning a religious vocation more difficult. I'm seriously considering not even saying one mystery of the rosary anymore. I prayed at least five decades of it everyday for over five years and then last May started just to say one. I may have to take a vacation from it, since I keep essentially "meditating" the same thoughts over and over again. I just feel bad about not saying it at all even just for one day. Perhaps I should ask the priest at the parish in the town of my college for spiritual direction if he has time.

Over the past I don't know how many weeks I've been wondering about what I should even do with my life. I'm not even sure if I should go into a cloistered, apostolic, or contemplative/active religious community. Even if I were to actually go into the later two, I don't know what kind of apostolate I'd go into.

[johnnydigit]

when i got bored of the Rosary, i started doing the Divine Mercy Chaplet. then i realized that in comparison i got much deeper with the Rosary, so i went back to it. i started to get deeper into the mysteries from Scripture, as well as into Marian spirituality, and combined, they both are ever more powerful. next i read some private revelations on the mysteries that took me to an even deeper level (Maria Valtorta - some writings cautioned). between praying while driving, in adoration, or on walks, any one Rosary can keep me occupied for up to 3 hrs. it is one wicked weapon! (wicked = powerful)