Quality or Quantity, which do you seek?

Quality or Quantity of what?  I’m talking about prayer.  Today I was reading an article written to priests talking about  people who confess their prayer life isn’t what should it should be.  How do feel your prayer life is?

Quantity – do you spend enough time in prayer?  How much is enough?  The answer might be different for each of us.  There is no rule that specifies exactly how much we should pray.  Of course, there are recommendations.  I begin by saying if the only time you pray is on Sunday at church,then you are not praying enough.  How about a couple of times a week?  It probably still isn’t enough.  Once a day?  Now we are getting close.  The point of prayer is to stay close to God throughout our day.  That doesn’t have to mean praying continuously.  How about grace before each meal and once a day in private prayer?

Quality – The quality of prayer is as important as, if not more important than, the quantity of prayer.  Quality is where I admit I struggle with my own prayer life.  Now, I pray the Liturgy of the Hours several times throughout the day and say Mass.  I don’t have to work too hard to pray some.  My problem is that when I am in a hurry I rush through the prayers without reflecting on the words or taking the time to listen to what God has to say to me.

There is no good way to “measure” the quality of prayer.  One might suggest if the prayers are answered then that means the quality was good.  If we are praying for something bad for us, then hopefully we won’t get it.

I would say good prayer is when you feel the presence of God.  However, the inverse, that when you don’t feel God’s presence, doesn’t necessarily mean it is not good prayer.  Sometimes, in the midst of all the challenges of our lives, it is difficult to know God’s presence.

If we can’t measure the quality of prayer how might we have an idea when we are on the right track?

First, I would suggest if you are running through your prayers as fast as you can to go do something else, then you are not praying well.  Ask yourself “Do you think about what you are praying for or just reading a list? ”

Do you give God a chance to talk?  This can be a hard one.  We face many distractions in our lives.  When we stop talking (or reading our prayers) all those distractions come rushing at us and we can’t hear what God has to say.  Sometimes, I don’t know whether to fight the distractions, ignore them, or to pray about them.  Yes, I said pray about the distractions.  Now, we can’t listen to every distraction but if the same thing keeps distracting us, maybe it is something that we need to pray about.

In completative prayer, the person quiets themselves and “ignores” the distractions simply quieting themselves without “thinking”.  When I do this I do feel God’s presence in a way that is difficult to describe.  In my own prayer, I do better at reading scripture or other religious material and thinking about what it means to me (meditative prayer).  But this is not just a matter of reading words.  You have to stop, sometimes after every sentence, to think about what you have read means to you.

I can’t tell you the perfect way to pray.  You have to find that for yourself.  Lent starts in less than two weeks.  Maybe it is time for you to work on your prayer life.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff