OBSTACLES TO OBSTACLES TO PRAYERPRAYER

1. NOT BEING SUFFICIENTLY MOTIVATED

Need for personal commitment to prayer

Need for self-effort It is a longing of an individual

through personal training Our training such as novitiate are

only a help, but need for personal effort through personal motivation

Need to renew the personal motivation every day.

2. DEPERSONALIZING PRAYER

We may pray as a community… as a parish… as a particular group, but what is the personal involvement?

What is my personal contribution?Because salvation is

ultimately a personal story.

3. SECULARISING PRAYER

We pray the way we live… If our life is worldly, our prayer too will be

worldly. Our secular tendencies, attitudes will be

manifested in our prayer moments… because prayer is a personal relationship with God.

Impersonal prayer is, when prayer becomes an event, an obligation and a programme to be done.

4. NOT DEVOTING ONESELF DEEPLY TO PRAYER

Our life is a devotion, a personal offering to God.

It is a personal sacrifice to the Lord

This sacrifice is possible only if we put ourselves to prayer…

… and put prayer into our lives.

5. NOT BEING INTERESTED IN THE PROGRESS

Ask yourself… how you prayed as a child, an adolescent, a novice, a young religious…

How I grown from my childish way of praying?

How do I rate myself? Have I grown and developed

a method for myself? Have I grown in my interest in prayer? Do I reap better fruits?

6. NOT NOURISHING FAITH

Prayer should give hope in what we do… should give meaning to the life we have chosen.

Should help us in our trails, temptations…

A person of prayer is a person of hope.

Prayer ought to be a source of encouragement, strength and a tool of perseverance.

7. NEGLECTING THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST We ought to learn from Jesus’ experience

of prayer as he prayed as a human being. We lean from his search for solitude,

quiet moments—

a time of aloneness. His prayer is a powerful moments

of expression of his humanity…

his way of overcoming trails. His humanity gives us new

impetus for our own prayer

and struggles.

8. PUTTING QUANTITY ABOVE QUALITY

Quality is always better than quantity in most human situation.

Few moments well utilized for God, is better than many years uselessly spent. We have many lessons from the lives of young saints.

Often spending many hours dreaming in the church is only creating deception.

9. NEGLECTING SUBSTANTIAL PRAYER TIME

Prayer needs sacrifice of time.Need to give quality time and be

consistent in prayer moments, those moments to be priority moments.

When we miss prayer time, do we miss something?

10. SEPARATING PRAYER FROM TOTALITY OF LIFE

“When did Don Bosco not pray?”

Spirit of St. Francis de Sales’ prayer of daily life.

St. Francis of Assisioneness with Nature

Active contemplatives…Salesian spirit of prayer

11. SEPARATING PRAYER FROM THE WELL BEING

We draw our energy from Jesus… Eucharist, Blessed Mother, our Salesian Spirit.

Energy that comes from other sources are not guaranteed.

12. NOT PRAYING BECAUSE ONE IS UNWORTHY

Salesian prayer is joyful… comes from our spirit of celebration of life.

It’s creativity, joyfulness invites young people to join us in prayer.

Our prayer ought to be guilt free prayer.

“Save us Lord from sour faced saints.”

13. DISCOURAGEMENT

It is like Samuel listening to the Lord… “Speak Lord, Your servant is listening.”

Prayer is an art. Prayer needs perseverance

and daily struggle.

14. MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS BY EXPERIENCE

To be with you one day is like 1000 years.

Mastery of prayer and spiritual life for that matter does not necessarily go with age and years spend in religious life.

Our effectiveness, satisfaction in prayer is based on our closeness with the Lord.

15. NOT PUTTING SENSATIONS AND FEELINGS IN THEIR PROPER PLACES

Need to pray at all times… not only in the moment of need, moment of agony, moment of crisis. Jesus prayed all the time and everyday.

There is no special requirement for prayer…

16. CONFUSING PRAYER WITH NATURAL CONTEMPLATION

Our pensive nature, our creative skill, our poetical moments will not lead us to prayer or contemplation.

Only our love for the Lord will lead us to prayer and will help us to meet him.

Our deep desire will lead us to contemplation.

17. NEGLECTING ONE’S LIFE STYLE

Prayer goes with our life style, the way we life, the way we treat others, the way we are hospitable to people with our means, time and abilities.

Humility, docility, friendly nature will create a necessary conduciveness for prayer.

18. NOT MAINTAINING TWO FORMS OF PERYER

Need for communal and personal ways of prayer.

Our personal prayer should be supported by community prayer.

We cannot be islands of prayer. We should not be satisfied with

community moments of prayer. Community prayer will not make much sense without personal prayer.

19. NOT LETTING OTHER PEOPLE HELP We need mentors in prayer… we

need examples in prayer. We need spiritual directors

for successful prayer life. We need the support of confessors.

We need to go for Renticonto. We need to regular spiritual

reading and spiritual get-together for prayer.

20. EVALUATING THE QUALITY OF PRAYER IMPROPERLY

Not to become complacent with our prayer—quality and quantity of prayer.

Need to evaluate our prayer and prayerfulness through regular examination of conscience, confessions, spiritual directions, recollections, and annual retreats.

Be willing to look at the condition of our soul honestly.