A few weeks ago I was sitting at this machine when my cousin called. Now she is a wonderful lady about ninety three, well instructed in the Faith and I am sure close to God. It seems that there was a problem in their parish and of course, since I am her cousin, she thought that I should know the answer since I have retired.
Sometimes the answer does not fit the problem, but I thought that the Blessed Mother would be a good answer for her, so I proposed saying the rosary and commending the problems to the Blessed Mother. To that she came up with a surprising answer – she was not that keen on the Rosary and could not say more than a decade at a time before she fell to sleep. So she would rather just talk to Mary about the problem.
So I thought “How many people have that problem and there is an easy answer for it?” It’ a problem that we all have but never really thinks of how to get rid of it.
When we are in the seminary we were told to pray silently but still move our lips, thereby keeping our minds on what we were doing. When we say the Divine Office we are to also use the use of our lips in that prayer and then we are more aware of what we are saying and to |Whom we are saying it. Go on and try it!
You know, when we are reading something we read rapidly with our eyes and do not take time to focus on what we are really thinking of as we read... We are trained to read rapidly sometimes 200- 300 words per minute and sorry to say, when we pray we say our prayers rapidly. Some will say that they can say the rosary in eight minutes or so - that is pretty fast for a conversation with the Blesses Mother or for anyone else to say
the least.
Now Mary gives us many promises and many of them hinge on the fact that she says we should say her rosary devoutly. That does not necessarily say on our knees and in a church – although that sure is a good way to do it But devout prayer can be done anywhere – standing, kneeling or even sitting and for some lying flat on their back We are praying devoutly when we know what we are saying and talking with the person to
whom we are praying. How often have you suddenly awake in the middle the night and start to say your rosary? Good idea! But soon you fall asleep again and are not praying, not using your lips silent prayer and then sleep takes over. Did you do something wrong? No, you just lost track of your prayer and as the nuns used to say, the angels took over for us...
So the next time we lose thought of prayer and allow distractions to take over, we might just think that when we speak to the Blessed Lady, we should be attentive and talk with her in our prayer – silently and forming the words with our lips . Try it and don’t ask How Do They Do That – now you know the secret.
© Fr Louis Schlangen
Sometimes the answer does not fit the problem, but I thought that the Blessed Mother would be a good answer for her, so I proposed saying the rosary and commending the problems to the Blessed Mother. To that she came up with a surprising answer – she was not that keen on the Rosary and could not say more than a decade at a time before she fell to sleep. So she would rather just talk to Mary about the problem.
So I thought “How many people have that problem and there is an easy answer for it?” It’ a problem that we all have but never really thinks of how to get rid of it.
When we are in the seminary we were told to pray silently but still move our lips, thereby keeping our minds on what we were doing. When we say the Divine Office we are to also use the use of our lips in that prayer and then we are more aware of what we are saying and to |Whom we are saying it. Go on and try it!
You know, when we are reading something we read rapidly with our eyes and do not take time to focus on what we are really thinking of as we read... We are trained to read rapidly sometimes 200- 300 words per minute and sorry to say, when we pray we say our prayers rapidly. Some will say that they can say the rosary in eight minutes or so - that is pretty fast for a conversation with the Blesses Mother or for anyone else to say
the least.
Now Mary gives us many promises and many of them hinge on the fact that she says we should say her rosary devoutly. That does not necessarily say on our knees and in a church – although that sure is a good way to do it But devout prayer can be done anywhere – standing, kneeling or even sitting and for some lying flat on their back We are praying devoutly when we know what we are saying and talking with the person to
whom we are praying. How often have you suddenly awake in the middle the night and start to say your rosary? Good idea! But soon you fall asleep again and are not praying, not using your lips silent prayer and then sleep takes over. Did you do something wrong? No, you just lost track of your prayer and as the nuns used to say, the angels took over for us...
So the next time we lose thought of prayer and allow distractions to take over, we might just think that when we speak to the Blessed Lady, we should be attentive and talk with her in our prayer – silently and forming the words with our lips . Try it and don’t ask How Do They Do That – now you know the secret.
© Fr Louis Schlangen