Difficulty in Prayer.
A Reflection by Fred Schaeffer, OFS
Prayer is talking to God. “It is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part.” (CCC 27251) There are many difficulties in prayer and the greatest one is distraction. Then there is dryness. Dryness in prayer refers to the spiritual experience of feeling distant from God, lacking consolation, or not sensing His presence during prayer, even though one continues to pray faithfully. Then there is CCC 2732, “The most common yet most hidden temptation is our lack of faith. It expresses itself less by declared incredulity than by our actual preferences. When we begin to pray, a thousand labors or cares thought to be urgent vie for priority; once again, it is the moment of truth for the heart: what is its real love? Sometimes we turn to the Lord as a last resort, but do we really believe He is? Sometimes we enlist the Lord as an ally, but our heart remains presumptuous. In each case, our lack of faith reveals that we do not yet share in the disposition of a humble heart: "Apart from me, you can do nothing."
Prayer is a vital necessity (see CCC 2744). “If we do not allow the Spirit to lead us, we fall back into the slavery of sin” (Cf. Gal 5:16-25). If you are having difficulty, my advice is to talk to a priest, sin less (with the goal of not sinning at all), and pray often. If there is something wrong in our relationship to God, it is never God's fault. People who really think they cannot pray, go seek advice, go open up to someone, and most of all, just ask God to help you. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Mat. 7:7-8)
Franciscans, and indeed all who pray the daily prayers of the Catholic Church, that is, the Liturgy of the Hours, are really participating in an expression of Love for God. Those Church Orders who are obliged to pray these prayers will do so in the manner prescribed by the rubrics. These are found at the beginning of Volume I of the 4-volume Liturgy of the Hours, and in other places. There are slight variations between convents, monasteries and friaries. The Benedictines, for example, often chant this Liturgy in Latin. And for those using the vernacular, there are usages by tradition that are common to some houses and not to others, but by and large, everyone follows either the 4-volume or the single volume "Christian Prayer". Priests who are not members of religious orders almost always use the 4-volume edition and a good number of lay people do also. Lay people, for the most part are not obliged to use these prayers. Likewise, Secular Franciscans are not obliged to say the Liturgy of the Hours but the Order highly encourages us to do so.
When we come together to pray, and we are in the middle of prayer, do not begin a discussion about the format of that prayer. Do that before or after the prayer, but not during. Also, when making an Intercessory Prayer for someone, make it short and to the point. For example, "Dear Lord, please heal (name) who is suffering from cancer, let us pray to the Lord" (and we answer, God hear us, or similar). But do not begin to tell the group that this person is in the hospital, and how many kids he or she has, or about that trip she got sick on, etc., etc. - that may be very interesting but is not pertinent to the prayer requests, and becomes a distraction.
Prayer is a conversation between us (i.e. the persons praying) and God. We ask God to help us and others, but not before praising Him. That is why the Intercessions are toward the END of the "Hour" of these prayers. The Psalms, and all that follows before the Intercessions is the praise we are giving to God. In a similar way, when praying privately for someone's need, always express your love for God. It is an expression of kindness, of intimacy in prayer between the servant and his or her Master, and our prayers are as those of children to the Father. In addition, let us not forget that Franciscans have a legion of Saints and Blessed in our big family who have gone before us, beginning with the Queen of the Seraphic Order, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Let us always ask for her Intercession in our prayer life. Our Holy Father, St. Francis of Assisi and some of our favorite saints are there to help us. Ask them to intercede for us in prayer. And lastly, our many fraternities have one or more people who are deceased, who have gone before us, and we can ask them for a favor once in a while, too. They have completed the good fight, and they are with the Lord. Let us not forget them since they will always be our sisters and brothers in the Fraternity and in Eternity.
Peace and Good,
Fred Schaeffer, OFS
August 26, 2025
- CCC: Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd Edition, 1994 ff.