When Your Prayer Life Is Stuck

Last week I reread my book “Praying on Empty.” You might find some thoughts from it helpful—if not now, sometime later… My God, grant that I may love you, and grant that the only reward of my love will be to love you always more and more. A priest advised a man who couldn’t pray […]

Devilish Distractions

Once at a Christmas party while we were dining, my three-year-old grandnephew stood at the table crying hard. My brother-in-law said to him, “Go get Grandpa a cookie.” Instantly the little boy stopped bawling and went off in search of a cookie. My brother-in-law commented to me, “Your sister taught me how to distract him […]

Down with Distractions During Prayer

Apparently our brains have more than one track. Maybe as you’re praying the rosary, you’re planning what you’ll have for dinner and before you know it, you’ve prayed the closing prayer. Maybe you’re reading a prayer, like the Divine Office, and your eyes are following the words, but when you’re finished, you don’t know what […]

About Prayer: A Video Christmas Gift

Here is a Christmas gift for you!  My nephew Andy videotaped my presentation on prayer that I gave at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst library on December 1.  If you have time, you might enjoy watching it. Before I began, I asked the audience to state their name and their favorite prayer or favorite way of praying. […]

Prayer Problems

Prayer is as essential to our spiritual life as breathing is to our physical life. It is getting in touch with God, our Creator, and communicating with him. This deepens our relationship with God. We wouldn’t want to arrive at the pearly gates of heaven and have God say to us, “And who are you?” […]