I would be the first to admit that I am a fairly lazy Catholic when it comes to praying. At least by my standards, because I’m not in your home studying your habits (ugh creepy).
I mean that I don’t pray every night with my kids before bed, but we do pray before most meals. If we go for fast food after school we pray before we eat in the van.
We pray:
“Bless us O’Lord and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ Our Lord*
Amen”
*There is more to this prayer but I have not memorized it.* I also take this time before the “Amen” to add my special intentions.
Like “We pray Lord in a special way for the complete healing of Henry K., Erin S.,etc.” Or sometimes just “Please bless the hands that grew and prepared this food, through Christ our Lord Amen.
You get the general idea. It’s pretty fast and loose, but sometimes…… (when I’m not in a “low blood sugar” rush to eat) the Holy Spirit drops me little hints.
By hints I mean, when I still my mind for a nano second “suggestions” pop in. I can’t explain it any more clearly. Like the time my best friend popped in and her name just came out of my mouth. I didn’t give it another thought but just listed her with the litany of other people who I knew needed prayer or asked for my prayers (more on this later).
Well, about a week later she confided that she was really struggling that day. I said Oh my gosh I prayed for you! Why didn’t you tell me this was happening?! Again I had no idea but I just saw her name flash across the ticker tape that runs through my head.
Last night it was our parish priest Father Dan, I don’t know why he popped in my head, he just did. Right now during this time of scandal in our Church, I pray almost daily for our faithful priests and religious around the world. These holy men and women of God need our prayers now more than ever.
Over Thanksgiving we prayed for ALL the service members that are away over seas and apart from their families.* I need to remind my kids that not ALL of us have our families close by during these special events.
*Side note-When my friend Terri’s husband was stationed in Afghanistan, someone asked her if her husband would be coming home for Christmas! She said no he’s fighting a war they aren’t allowed to come home. How many people actually think this? I watched their family in the year that Bryan was deployed he missed all 4 of their daughters birthdays, a First Communion, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, school plays, etc. They will never get that time apart back.
I have several friends who know me and read this blog, that reach out and ask me to pray for people in their families. My friend Darcy calls me a prayer warrior, this makes me laugh. I don’t know that I qualify for that title, but I do nag God on a regular basis.
Sometimes when we our out and a fire truck is rushing to help someone we pray for the victims of the accident. We pray when we see a hearse and a funeral procession.
Other times it’s strangers from the news, mass shooting, police officers killed,victims of naural disasters, etc. But mostly I want my children to think and pray for these other people we will never meet.
They pray during the morning annoucements each day before school starts, they pray before atheltic games, before they leave for lunch period each day and when someone has a family memebr in need of prayer, they pray as a class for that person.
For this I am eternally gratful to our Catholic School system.
I want my girls to NEVER be embarrassed to pray in public. EVER! We might be the trigger for someone else, but mostly I want them to always let their LIGHT for Jesus shine bright.
I think my husband is sometimes embarssed (his faith is very private to him) when I ask to pray in a resturant. Meanwhile my kids don’t bat an eye when we pray at a Wendy’s or in the Food Court at Costco..
Recently my girls have gotten into “Blue Bloods” a tv show about an Irish Catholic family of police officers. In every episode, the family will share a meal at the grandpa’s house and they actually pray the grace before the meal.
I can’t tell you what a refreshing thing that is to see in this age of debauchery, violence and explicitness in nearly every show on television. (I realize Blue Bloods is probably NOT age appropriate in every or most episodes), but it’s what my husband wants to watch and there is only so much HGTV he can handle.
Being a lazy prayer in life means I pray the Rosary in the car while running errands. I have a CD in the car and when I am feeling overwhelmed or someone has died I try to pray a Rosary for that person. Sometimes it may only be a decade, other times another person will pop in my head while I’m praying along to the CD ( this is when I know they also require my prayers).
I guess what I am trying to say is that I don’t have a schedule or a set of prayers but I do try to pray at least once daily.
When I was dropping our kids at school, we would pray in the drop off-line. One Hail Mary or Our Father and an Angel of God. See this way I could kick them out of the car, knowing that we had prayed and maybe they would forget ALL the yelling it took to get them out the door that morning (The Struggle Is Real, people).
I just remembered I pray when I’m climbing a ladder or doing other precarious stuff in my life (Please God keep my safe) or when I’m in a hurry and I find the last pair of clean underwear in the Ikea bag of laundry I have not put away (I need to be more diligent in my laudnry processing ways). I waste a lot of Jesus’s time on that prayer. I always thank him, and I’m certain he’s shaking his head calling me a crazy squirrel.
I guess in my laziness I am praying more than I realized. But it only just dawned on me that when I slow down, I get the memo of who needs my prayers.
Your Lazy Praying Friend,
Pilar the Papist Squirrel
Ps Will you please keep me and my family in your prayers.
The Papist Squirrel 