Ruth: Chapter 3 - Lord Teach Us to Pray

I liked how the author did not knock formal prayer but showed its rightful place in our Christian prayer life.  I think that Fr. Apostoli did a nice job of clearly and briefly explaining this basic element of prayer.

In this chapter, we begin to look at the development of our spiritual life by looking at how we speak with God through the use of formal prayers. The author says the following about formal prayers "Often these prayers have a depth or beauty or inspirational quality that pulls us in and helps us draw near to God." ... "in praying them we make them our own."  In these prayers we lift up our minds and hearts to God praying the words as our own.  Some of the simple formal prayers that I love to pray are: "We adore them O Christ, and we bless Thee, because by they holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world." "Jesus, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" "Oh, Sacrament most holy, oh, Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be ever moment thine." There is also the Prayer of St. Ignatius, the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Stations of the Cross, etc.  These are all formal prayers that we can pray individually, as families or in community settings. To me they are often prayer starters that lead me deeper into prayer.  .......What are your favorite formal prayers?

As much as I yearn for uninterrupted blissful prayer times I find myself easily distracted just as the author noted. The book suggests that when distractions come we should try to gently refocus on God.  What I have been doing for a long time now is to pray for the distraction (person or thing) before casting it aside to refocus on the Lord. ...... I look forward to hearing about how you deal with distractions in prayer.