Time To Pray

It's funny how we can make time to watch our favorite television programs, read the current bestselling books, and surf the internet (or write blog posts) - yet we make every excuse in the book for not making (or taking) the time to pray...I mean really pray.

Brother Craig over at Monks of Adoration writes about Waiting: An Opportunity to Pray. Sounds like a great idea, since we all seem to do a great deal of waiting in our day-to-day lives.

Praying at work is another option for busy Catholics. Woodeene Koenig-Bricke, editor of Catholic Parent Magazine, offers ideas for Creative Ways to Pray At Work.

According to Father Leo J. Trese, "Some of our best prayer is prayer in which we use no words at all. Read about it in No Time to Pray? Try Contemplation.

"Being too busy, or not taking the time to pray, is not a valid excuse with the Lord..." states the author of Pray Without Ceasing. A nice reflection for the Lenten season.

I found Got Time to Pray? on the Parish of the Transfiguration website. One statement in the article caught my attention, "Satan does not want any of us to pray. By making our world and ourselves super busy we are probably giving his strategy considerable support." I can certainly believe that!

The following is from Catholic Community NET, Can I Pray Online?:

There is an old joke told of a young monk who goes to his superior with two questions:
Can I smoke a cigarette while I am praying ?
To which the answer is NO. But he then asks the further question:
Can I pray while I am smoking a cigarette ?
To which the answer has to be YES.
(Without encouraging you to smoke, I hope you see the difference. Prayer can be done at any time and in any place)

If you are now motivated to pick yourself up and pray...why not read Learning How to Pray: A Catholic Guide to the Interior Life.

I'll close things out with an appropriate poem, author unknown:

Always Find The Time

I knelt to pray but not for long,

I had too much to do.

I had to hurry and get to work

For bills would soon be due.

So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,

And jumped up off my knees.

My Christian duty was now done

My soul could rest at ease.

All day long I had no time

To spread a word of cheer.

No time to speak of CHRIST to friends,

They'd laugh at me I'd fear.

No time, no time, too much to do,

That was my constant cry,

No time to give to souls in need

But at last the time, the time to die.

I went before the LORD,

I came, I stood with downcast eyes.

For in his hands GOD held a book;

It was the book of life.

GOD looked into his book and said

"Your name I cannot find."

I once was going to write it down...

But never found the time"