Distracted while praying?

If you struggle with being distracted while praying, there is good news. You are not alone. Many times, I have found myself praying the rosary and multiple things distract me. My phone rings, the dog barks, or my mind wanders to the plans for the day ahead. It does not matter if it is during Mass, praying the rosary, adoration, or just spending time alone with God, I have found one of satan’s most used tactics is distraction.

Being distracted during prayer does not have to be a bad thing. It’s how we respond to the distractions that defines if the result is good or bad.

“God does not require from novices prayer completely free from distraction. Do not despond when your thought is distracted, but remain calm, and unceasingly restore your mind to itself” – St. John Climacus

The urging of restoring your heart and mind to the Lord if you find yourself distracted during prayer is one frequently found in the teachings of the saints. We can often find ourselves being distracted while praying various prayers, but particularly while we are spending time in adoration or praying the rosary. The great saint, Francis de Sales, addressed the issue of being distracted during adoration and presents a concept different from that which we sometimes think of ourselves.

“If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently and replace it tenderly in its master’s presence, and even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back and place it again in our Lord’s presence, your hour would be very well employed” – St. Francis de Sales

Our human mind and heart will condemn us if we let it. How many times have you walked out of adoration and thought “well that was pointless because I was distracted the whole time.” However, St. Francis tells us that even though we struggle- if we fight with the devil to keep our heart and mind on Christ during that time then we have been successful.

I often think of the times I have been around the men of various religious orders. From the Dominicans to the Benedictines, I have noticed that many go about their daily chores and activities while praying the rosary. Prayer can coincide with other activities of our life. It does not mean we should neglect uninterrupted time with the Lord in Adoration or in daily prayer. Our time alone with Christ in prayer is essential to our spiritual growth. However, we should not expect it to be distraction free all the time.

Satan wants us to walk away from our prayer because of distractions. He wants us to get frustrated or annoyed at the distractions and just give up. He wants us to convince ourselves it is useless, and we never have time to pray because we are always encountering distractions. Yes, it is certainly better if we can have uninterrupted time alone such as in adoration. It is wonderful if we can pray the rosary without our mind or hearts wandering to other things or being interrupted by the things of the world.

St. Romauld made a distinction between whole devotion (uninterrupted) prayer and that which is filled with distractions. Although one is obviously better and more fruitful than the other, it is essential that we recognize that even distracted prayer is not fruitless.

“Better to pray one Psalm with devotion and compunction than a hundred with distraction” – St. Romauld.

It is certainly better to be able to pray without distractions. However, we know there are always going to be arrows of distraction from the devil to try and keep us from spending our time wholly devoted to Christ.

There are various ways we can bring our hearts and minds back to Christ when we find that our prayers are being interrupted with distractions. We can take a break for a few seconds and then refocus. We can stop and pray for God to help us focus. When I find myself distracted during the rosary, I often tell myself “just finish it”. That is the mindset we must have. We must be determined to finish our rosary prayers, our adoration time, or even just our quiet prayer time before bed. I have also even repeated a particular decade of the rosary if I believe it was more distraction than focus on the mystery.

St. Philip Neri warns us of the one thing we are to never do when we struggle with being distracted.

“We must never leave off our prayers because of distractions and restlessness of mind, although it seems useless to go on with them. He who perseveres for the whole of his accustomed time, gently recalling his mind to the subject of his prayer, merits greatly.” (St. Philip Neri)

Ultimately, we must remember the next time we are distracted in prayer that we are not alone. You are not the only one who gets distracted. It is your resolve to finish, to stay faithful, and to continue even when frustration sets in, that will bring you eternal rewards.