St. Paul writes, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thess 5:16-18)." This is quite a tall order. And how does one pray without ceasing? “I mean, maybe those cloistered nuns and monks can manage it, but let’s be real here. I’ve got family, work, friends, and a to-do less a mile long, I’m doing good to carve out 15 minutes a day for prayer. Okay, maybe I get in 30 minutes, but that’s tops.” Sound familiar? Maybe you have more time for focused prayer, maybe less. The concept of praying always goes back to offering everything to God each day. If we make the Morning Offering, then we’ve determined that our entire day is for God.

“Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God. ( Catechism of the Catholic Church 2559)” By reminding ourselves periodically throughout the day to lift our focus to God, we bring ourselves and our offerings back into prayer. Maybe you can make little notes to yourself, or Scripture verses, or favorite prayers to put around your home, workspace, car, wherever you spend time. Make your phone’s wallpaper a scripture or saint quote. Put religious art on your computer desktop or maybe nature scenes that remind you of God’s great gift of creation. Whatever puts you in a prayerful frame of mind can work to make this ceaseless prayer possible. Getting into the habit of having a running conversation with God can be one Lenten practice to include this year. You can read more about prayer in the Catechism, Part Four is all about Christian Prayer. The more in touch we are with God, constantly seeking His will in our lives, being who He wants us to be, the holier we become, and that my friends is the goal – holiness.

Next time we’ll look at fasting.