Browse > Home / DFW Spotlight, MC Blog / Prayer of a Catholic Rookie

Prayer of a Catholic Rookie

November 13, 2009

- by Lori

As a Southern Baptist kid, I learned to pray by just talking to God. We practiced the art of conversational prayer. So, that is the way I like to pray as an adult. I have learned that conversational prayer is only one of the ways Catholics engage in prayer. Some Catholics are comfortable with conversational prayer, and others prefer to use the rich collection of prayers that has developed over the last 2000 years with the very first being the one Jesus himself taught us- The Our Father. This rich collection of prayers is fascinating to me. I love to see how others talk to God. By studying these prayers, I have gained a better understanding of how to pray and how to listen. I feel like I know my God better. These words shared by other Christians give me insight and allow God to speak to me in ways I didn’t know how to ask. I can’t soak up enough of these prayers.

One prayer that has had an impact on me lately is the rosary. Before I became Catholic, Gerry and I used to go to adoration for an hour in the middle of the night on Sundays. And I always prayed the rosary. Because I was so new at this whole Catholic thing, I didn’t really get it. I said the words and I meant them, but I didn’t feel like I was communicating well with God. After the rosary, I always fell back on my conversational prayer. Then, after a while, I didn’t pray the rosary as often.

Lately, I have been drawn back to the rosary. And all of a sudden, it is such a powerful way for me to pray. I am not sure what has changed, but I am blown away by the communication I have with God during the rosary. I have been especially drawn to the sorrowful mysteries. Every time I pray through the sorrowful mysteries, I gain a deeper understanding of His passion. I see a new glimpse of the love He has for me. While in prayer, my mind will start to wander to something I need to do or fix or someone I need to talk to or pray for. Thoughts will pop into my head that either have meaning at that moment or meaning I discover at a later time. And there have been moments when I think I hear Jesus talking to me. My humanity would like to label those moments as crazy but my spirit wants to label them as real. My most vivid experiences with the rosary have been in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I am really looking forward to the end of football season so I can go to first Friday adoration, pray the rosary and listen for Jesus to whisper in my ear.

Lori is a stay-at-home mom to her two boys and the children she loves on during the day at her home daycare. She lovingly supports her Husband’s calling as a High School Band Director. Originally from New Orleans, she was raised in the Southern Baptist Church and converted to the Catholic faith while in college. When she has a rare free moment, she publishes her thoughts and musings at www.lorislifeandtimes.blogspot.com.

Posted by Lori · Filed Under DFW Spotlight, MC Blog 

Comments

One Response to “Prayer of a Catholic Rookie”

  1. Chad Simpson on November 15th, 2009 9:38 am

    Lori, thanks for sharing, especially about your prayer life which can be very personal. I have trouble with conversational prayer but am using the rosary as a way to include conversational prayer in my prayer life by asking God what I want through my personal intentions. Welcome to MetroCatholic and I look forward to reading more of your musings!

Got something to say?





Home | About | Archives | Advertising | Contact | Privacy Policy

MetroCatholic, Inc · 5604 Belton Ln. · Suite 400 · McKinney, TX 75070
Ph. (972) 400-2423 · Fax (888) 248-7696

The sites and respective links above offer additional information on the Catholic faith. Please note that DFW Catholic is not officially associated with any of these sites and is unable to effectively monitor all information contained therein. Please use your own judgement when visiting these or any websites. If you find information that is objectionable, contact us.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish an article without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "MetroCatholic". Any Internet re-publishing of original MetroCatholic articles MUST additionally include a live link to http://www.dfwcatholic.org. Republishing of articles on DFWCatholic.org that have come from other news sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources. MetroCatholic may at times publish content that is taken from the internet and thus considered to be in the public domain. Anyone contrary to the publication of said content need only to contact the editorial office which will immediately proceed to remove the content.