Learn how to pray

[eschator83]

I've been quite sick for the last couple months, including three days in the hospital, but have been delighted to see you back here and sharing.  I feel a good deal better now, but still struggle with general weakness, as well as difficulty in concentration and recall.  I hope to improve my contributions.  I'm curious that it seems you're posting considerably more of your own convictions than previously, or perhaps just less indication of your sources, and I wonder why.

[eschator83]

My foregoing post was intended for Ben, this is addressed to all.  I've prayed almost daily for Ukrainians since the second Russian invasion, often twice a day, but cannot recall having prayed often about the first invasion during OBama's presidency.  During both periods I've struggled with the concept of praying for peace, because it is so often taught that God has controlled and allowed everything that happens.  Sometimes my prayer is that He stop the fighting, presuming not that He was wrong but only that now circumstances have changed.  When I'm tempted to pray for reparation for Ukraine, I find myself doubting that reparation is possible, and wind up thinking about the book of Job.
Now I'm trying to pray for Israel, and it seems even more difficult to find appropriate words. 
Can anyone please help?

[CyrilSebastian]

eschator83, Why is it difficult to find appropriate words?

[Shin]

It is hard to pray for something and at the same time pray with the intention of whatever God's will is, is embraced?

[eschator83]

Because I always try to pray for things that God might Will, I struggle often to find words that seem appropriate, especially when praying for change in situations that God has willed, like healing the sick or avoiding death, as Jesus prayed that His Cup be taken away, if it was God's Will.  I have wondered if difficulty like mine has kept others from praying for Israel and Ukraine, and I hoped I might stimulate some prayers.  I often write a draft prayer when I expect it to be difficult to find words, and I have been tempted to post in this thread some of those drafts, as well as later versions of the prayer with an explanation of changes.
Showing the drafts is difficult, however, because it isn't a very good presentation.  I hope to post now in the prayer request forum the best prayers I've been able to write or find.

[eschator83]

It is astonishing how quickly time seems to be flying past.  Advent, Christmas, then early Lent and Easter, and suddenly I'm back at camp, which of course I very much enjoy but have available only a tiny fraction of my notes and books.  I've drafted several dozen new prayers in this period as I planned, but none have seemed particularly wise nor likely to be helpful for others. Yet, I sense an amazing coincidence in following Shin's suggestion to read some writers focused on spiritual life, and I turned almost directly into a section of the biography of St Alfonsus Liguori emphasizing his transition from brilliant and skillful presentations as a lawyer to loving simplicity in his sermons and theology as a young priest.  I ask your prayers to help me avoid distraction and purify my spiritual life.   

[Shin]

If you have the opportunity it would be a pleasure to read some of the prayers you've written down my friend when you find some you're happy with to do so!

[eschator83]

Your wonderful encouragement is a great gift, but also deeply intimidating.  When I was a beginning RCIA candidate 42 years ago, I was fascinated as I tried to imagine Catholics all around the world praying the Divine Office, the Missal, the Rosary, and so many of our wonderful prayers.  I wanted especially to join as much as possible the Liturgy of the Hours, but the cost of the four volumes in those days was prohibitive for me.  But people kept giving me books, and I was determined to find or write prayers for my own Liturgy.  I was writing and editing sometimes because I wanted to understand the words I was praying, and to feel my praise and requests were obedient to God's Will.  I hope to find some of them for inclusion here that might encourage others to pray and gather suggestions for me.

[eschator83]

Perhaps it will be useful for me to add as clearly as I can that my goal in writing and finding prayers has been to pray in a manner pleasing to God and understandable to me and others, but not thinking of them as better than others.  To put this in context my first three prayers of the day, which I try to do before I get out of bed, are the following: Our Father (I don't use the old English words), one verse of Hail Mary, and the following prayer I wrote seeking obedience to God's Will:
Heavenly Father, Divine Trinity,
I praise You and thank You,
for Your Amazing Grace and Incredible Blessings,
for Your Goodness, Your Love, and Your Truth.
Grant us wisdom and fortitude
that we may understand and follow Your Will,
escape evil and ignorance,
and find Communion in Your Divine Kingdom.
Amen
Comments, questions, and criticism would be appreciated.

[eschator83]

At 9am I try to consistently begin a series of about 6 prayers, which often can vary depending on my mood and circumstances.  Usually, breakfast comes before 9, and for some reason I have never found a mealtime prayer that I like to use consistently.  I would prefer a short prayer I could remember readily and use both in private and with company for all meals.  I would be very grateful for suggestions.
My St Joseph People's Prayer Book (1980) lists the following (#1244):
Bless us, O Lord,
and these Your Gifts
which we are about to receive
from Your Bounty
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
I regret that it is hard for me to express my concerns, especially in writing.  I don't want to spread them.  I've never tried to establish a habit of after meal prayer (#370).
Would anyone know when and why mealtime prayers came to be called Gace?
  

[eschator83]

My selection of 9am for prayer was based on St Mark's Gospel reference to the time of crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.  My prayer has been relatively consistent over the years, yet my notes reflect many small adjustments, often only included for short periods of time.  I've drafted further comments on this, but I am not at all sure they would be interesting or helpful to anyone.  Immediately after the 9am prayer I offer the following prayer from St Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises:
Lord Jesus,
Teach me to be generous;
teach me to serve You as You deserve;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labor and not to ask reward,
save only knowing that I am doing Your Will.
Amen

[eschator83]

Since the Russians invaded Ukraine, my prayer confidence and satisfaction have been enormously shaken.  Each of my prayer supplications for peace or mercy has seemed dreadfully hollow, with a question rising of what is God's Will, and whether His Will is ever attained.  How can it be that Christian countries can watch the destruction but do so relatively little compared to what we could do to stop it.  I am astonished that somehow I can't remember giving the first invasion under Obama much thought, nor his inaction nor Trump's, yet now I have deplored the limited action of Biden and Europe.  Is it conceivable that good can come somehow from this incredible evil?  Please pray for me and help me know just what to pray for.  As you can imagine, my distress is compounded by Israel-Palestine. 

[Shin]

'Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.'

St. Thomas More

[eschator83]

'Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.'

St. Thomas More

This is a fascinating and uplifting quote, many thanks.  It leaves me wondering how we would have prayed for St Thomas during his 15 months in the Tower.  It makes me think that the Sainthood that resulted from his martyrdom, and the consequent miracles and his unknowable Divine inspiration, were certainly a great good, which offset at least some of the evil of Henry VIII.  I struggle with the question could Thomas' imprisonment and execution been God's Will?  The biography in Delaney cites two ironies:  St Thomas was a tutor of Henry for a time, and Thomas considered application as a Carthusian, but decided against.