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Vanna
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| Posted: May 24 2008 at 11:54am | IP Logged
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Do you pray the Rosary? Or other rote prayers? Are you more spontaneous?
I try to pray the Rosary every day for different intentions but I'm not always sure that I'm asking for the right things or in the right way. If anyone read my prayer request, then you know we are having $$ issues. Should I pray for money? Should I pray for my husband to get a big raise? Should I just say help us, Lord?
I don't want to feel like I'm asking God to do my will, but I still want to feel like I'm addressing my issue. Does that make sense?
How do you do it? Thanks.
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juststartn
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I pray the rosary occasionally (not as often as I would like). Mostly, I pray spontaneously. That may be an off-shoot of my protestant upbringing (I converted in 2006). But then again, I look at it as a conversation between God and myself. Sometimes, its more onesided. Sometimes, there's more "give and take" involved.
I have done, and will do, some more of the rote prayers (I pray a Hail Mary and the Fatima prayer every time I pass a cemetary, for instance). But they aren't the spine of my prayer repetoire...if that makes any sense...
Rachel
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LLMom
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I pray many rote prayers: The Rosary, the Angelus, the morning offering, the Act of Contrition every night, the St. MIchael prayer,etc. I also say short ejaculations throughout the day, especially when I am losing my patience! I also pray straight from the heart. I tell God my wants and needs but always try to pray Thy will be done and let me accept it.
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LucyP
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I'm a convert too, like Rachel. To be honest I find the beautiful, time-hallowed prayers which I know have been so fruitful for so many saints and fellow believers to be a truly refreshing and meaningful way for me to communicate to God. I used to often struggle to find the words - not that I have a problem talking lol - but to feel my own way to a manner of laying the burdens of my heart before God in a way that wasn't "thank you for doing it Jesus" (naming and claiming, I guess) or "building my own part up", making it all about me and my desires.
What I have done with big issues (for healing, for another child etc) is take to God myself, ask the intercession of the Heavenly Friends, and then just try to take my focus off the need and onto the relationship. It's hard to sum up in a post without sounding vague, dismissive of your own struggles, or like I think I am holy. But, for example, I would ask God to send me another child (and ask as often as I felt called to ask - many times one day, not again for a while - often I see in retrospect on significant days for my adopted children) and then start working on finding all my answers and comforts in Him. Usually, for me, that meant not saying much but being aware that He was there.
Hmmmm, I've lost track of what I wanted to say. Sorry! I will pray for your intentions.
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SallyT
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I'm also a convert, and I do a combination of traditional prayers (daily Angelus, St. Michael the Archangel, various prayers to St. Joseph, and the rosary less often than my good intentions . . . intend), plus constant - I wish! -- spontaneous prayers.
We have had many episodes of financial worry, housing worry, employment worry, etc, over the past few years. I don't think there's anything wrong with lifting up your "situation" in prayer, or in confessing to God what He already knows to be the desires of your heart. We have been praying an ongoing novena to St. Joseph -- I jokingly call it an "eternovena" -- whose main focus is the sale our our current house and purchase of another in North Carolina, where my husband's job is. We ask for God's blessing on this whole process, for it to go smoothly and quickly, etc, and we also reiterate our trust in God, who has never failed us, and our desire to follow His will.
I love to pray the Angelus -- the children and I say it every noon -- for the lines "Behold the handmaid of the Lord/Be it unto me according to thy word." I love that the prayer positions us in Mary's place, to offer ourselves as she did to God's will, and to acquiesce to that will in whatever challenges we may face. I do find it important for myself to balance the "And, God, would you mind giving us x, y, and z" prayers with "You are God, and I am your handmaid" prayers. It's those second kind of prayers which give me the greatest peace and trust that all manner of thing shall be well.
Sally
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amethyst
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I'm another convert (isn't it so beautiful to read of so many converts on this board - bless you all!).
I get up before dawn each day and sit outside to pray my Rosary in the stillness and solitude of first light. This is a habit I nurtured last year and I cannot begin to tell you the fruit this has borne in my life.
I used to pray daily for my own wants and needs (more wants than needs at first), but now I offer my prayers knowing Our Lord has every need already attended to 'in His own time'. I have had to purge myself of a lot of my Protestant ways when it comes to prayer needs - that name it and claim it thing grew deep roots - but I think I'm finally over that hurdle. I know it is important to climb into my Heavenly Father's lap and lay my burdens before Him, but once done I trust that He has not forgotten them and will answer that need in the most perfect of ways, in the right time.
When I am in deepest distress over something I ask Our Lady to plead for me...our Priest once shared with me that we can learn a lot about prayer from the miracle at Cana. Our Lord said it was not His time yet, *but* the request of His mother 'hastened' Him. So, it is to Our Lady I go when I have come to the end of my rope and ask her to once again hasten Our Lord to answer my need. She always does. Btw, I have no parents so I run often to the Blessed Mother for help and comfort! 
The other thing I do is forget my own needs once I have voiced them to the Lord and Our Lady and pray for the needs of others. The more I pray for others the less important my own needs become.
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sarahb
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http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/
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Chari
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Beautiful visual of you praying the Rosary, Jenny! I love it! And, lovely words, too.
From, another convert (1985)
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mama251ders
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Mostly my all-day-long prayers consist of "Please, dear God!" with the hope that He knows the rest! I try to have "conversations" with God as much as I can. Soon, I will begin to work on shutting up and listening!
Blessings,
Betsie
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MichelleW
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When I wake up in the morning I ask the Lord what HE has for me today. It mostly helps me to look for Him and be aware of Him throughout the day. Then I pray the morning office from the Magnificat. I would say that I mostly pray spontaneous prayers throughout the day, but then pray the Evening prayers from Magnificat again just before bed.
I really don't think there is a right way to pray. It is whatever brings you into God's arms right now. Scripture (in the book of Romans) mentions that we often don't know how to pray, but that the Holy Spirit translates for us. I love that.
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Michelle
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: How do you pray?
