www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Praying the Hours using a chotki

Is this possible, and is there a guide somewhere on how it’s done? I deal with crippling depression, and as such there are some days I can’t crack open my Horologion, let alone make it to Liturgy.

Christ is in our midst!

Christ is in our midst!!

ServusMariæ:

Welcome to the forum. We hope your time with us will be spiritually enriching.

Let me offer an answer to your inability to open the Horlogion. What you are experiencing is a "dry period." They happen to all of us in our spiritual walk. There are two trains of thought I have been given in these situations--and I've had many of them in my life. The first is to force oneself to open the book, under the theory that "the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by storm." Pray for the grace to pray and then go full throttle.

The second theory is to take it easy on oneself. Take a small part if that is possible; do not beat yourself up over this situation; sit in silence during your prayer time. Gaze at the Lord's icon.

I have tried the Jesus Prayer during my time reading from a prayer book. Multi-tasking at prayer doesn't seem to work for me. I seem to get nothing out of either one. I have read an article about prayer that stressed that concentrating one's attention on a single prayer is better than trying to recite or pray a long list of prayers.

I think the important thing to remember is that the Lord loves you. He doesn't need our long prayer sessions; we do because much of the prayer teaches us. The Lord doesn't want us to cower before Him. He wants to spend time with us.

Bob
Moderator

Many decades ago, during my senior year of M. Div Seminary I took a course on prayer taught by a Jesuit.

The best "takeaway" from his instruction was that when distracting thoughts intrude in prayer it is best to "run with them" as they may likely reveal needs for intercession and/or sinful inclinations which need to be addressed.

Ignoring or attempting to suppress them will not "make them go away"; at best they will fester, at worse they will metastasize.

I'd be interested if you could elaborate a little bit on just what it means to "run with them", "them" being those distracting, intrusive thoughts that I'm sure most of us experience. One of the things I've been taught over the years, from multiple sources, is to just acknowledge their presence/existence and return to focusing, as much as possible, on prayer. So, to "run with them" seems a little vague and unclear to me. One might even get the sense that one should follow them wherever they might lead, which in some instances could be quite spiritually dangerous, I would think.

Anyway, your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks!

Oh, and by the way, Happy Birthday! May God grant you many happy years!!

Father bless,

Could you perhaps expound further on what you mean by "mestastisize"?

Think spread, take over, and kill. Like the way cancer metastasizes.

Precisely.

The distracting thought--for illustration purposes, let's use money--might actually be a call to self examination of one's discipline, forethought, and, ultimately, stewardship.

Or the thought about money might be a reminder of persons in want, who may or may not be known by name.