Help with distraction?

https://www.catholic.com/qa/do-the-...-require-that-all-of-the-mysteries-are-prayed
praying the rosary has indulgences attached

 

We pray rosary in groups and privately. Im not bothered if someone uses a different word here or there as I trust Jesus and Our Lady are not bothered. And I do get distracted in both settings. When i recognize my distraction, I "come back".... and simply say Lord this is my weakness... but where i fall short, you make strong... help me next time.

 

Now I know why I'm not as holy as Padre Pio: in 9 hours I am only able to get 27 Rosaries in because it takes me 20 minutes to pray one Holy Rosary. The cross of being a slowpoke!

 

Padre Pio used to take up to three hours to say Mass. I would assume from this that his rosaries went on quite a while too. But no one seemed to mind his mass being so long, in fact they loved it. There must be a lesson in there somewhere.

 

perhaps those attending were deep in prayer i suspect Padre Pio's mass would be extraordinary.

 

Padre Pio could bilocate & if he could extend outside the boundaries of space then he could also do so with time.

 

Fulton Sheen one time talked about people who said they were bored by the Mass. Fulton said that it was not about what the Mass brought to us, it is all about what we bring to the Mass. In other words bad attitude. The reason why people get bored is that they do not come with the right attitude,an open heart.

 

I never knew that, and Geralyn and I pray a 5-decade Rosary everyday. Now that's what I call a fringe benefit! More important is to allow those graces to purify our hearts so that what we say and do can draw souls closer to the Two Hearts!

 

Great post. I always forget to make my intentions to gain indulgences.

 

I suppose prayer can be seen as a gentle wrestling match with distraction. When I wake up at night times I often find myself to my annoyance thinking about secular , stupid matters and have to gently hustle myself back to the feet of God. Also on saying the rosary my mind flies of to everyday things and events. Once again I have to shepherd myself back to the feet of Mary.

Worst of all is when my thoughts wander of during Holy Mass and worse still after receiving the Eucharist. Once again more shepherding.

But it seems to me that these wandering thoughts are simply part of our poor fallen , sinful, human condition. I don't think the Good God expects us to overcome these. But what He does expect us to do is to try to overcome them. In other words a wrestling match.

 

Right!

 

I think one thing is true of distraction is what we put in is what we get back in terms of our thoughts. So whatever book we have been reading, whatever video or film we have been watching. whatever music we have been listening to, whatever we have been talking about with those around us will come back to us in our thoughts later on. The chickens will come back to roost. So if we are putting good things in good things will return to us.

If one the other hand the things we have been putting in are bad like pornography or vengeful thoughts these too will return to haunt us.

In such ways we prepare the bed on which our prayers will lay.

 

I have come across people who say "pray for our sinners" as well, as though they don't count themselves as one of the sinners I guess they just picked the words up wrong when they first learned the Hail Mary and nobody has ever corrected them. Might be no harm to point out the correct words as it does change the meaning of this line significantly. But how to do that tactfully... I sympathise with you though because I am also very easily distracted and put off by certain individuals I come across in religious circles, it can be quite a test.

 

In some things in the spiritual life we have to be firm and hard on ourselves. A lot of discipline.

In others we require a certain gentleness and kindness.

St Tereasa of Avila compared distractions to a herd of sheep we must gently shepherd to the right field.