Bishop Barron's recommendations:
1. Take the time for prayer 2. Find a center (still point) around which your life revolves 3. Speak to God honestly 4. Listen to God's response 5. Sit in silence "You will never find time to pray, you have to make time to pray. And that means unmaking something else. The only way to install the tenant of prayer in the apartment building of your life is to evict some other tenant from those premises that prayer will occupy. Few of us have any empty rooms available." Peter Kreeft, The Angel and the Ants
The Catechism provides a beautiful image, comparing prayer to Christ asking the Samaritan woman for water. "The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God's desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him." (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2560) One of my favorite prayers during times of spiritual attack is the "Lorica of St. Patrick." Lorica refers to Roman armor and is usually interpreted as "breastplate." Although St. Patrick lived in the fifth century, some of his writings, like "Confessions," are available online. As a child, he was kidnapped from Britain and sold into slavery in Ireland. After several years, he escaped and returned home, only to hear God calling him back to Ireland as a missionary. Parts of the Lorica hint at the serious spiritual trials he faced in this pagan land. He prays "against incantations of false prophets, against black laws of pagandom..."The portion of the lorica below is familiar to many people, but you can find the full prayer on the EWTN site. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me. |