Skip to content
Deacon Keith Fournier Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now >

What does Pray without Ceasing Mean?

Free World Class Education
FREE Catholic Classes
Let us embrace a life of prayer

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, St. Paul writes that we should 'pray without ceasing.' This word from scripture can have two very different effects on our lives. Either we can reject it as a pious sentiment that is 'not practical,' or we can allow it to transform how we understand prayer. In this way, this passage can challenge us to move outside of our comfort zones and embrace a mystical vision of life. It can help shatter the illusions that keep us from intimacy; the divides that prevent us from true flourishing.

Highlights

By Deacon Ian VanHeusen
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
3/12/2015 (9 years ago)

Published in Blog

Keywords: God, love, pray, lord, jesus, gift

style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px;">RALEIGH, NC - One of the greatest illusions it can shatter is that prayer is a series of rituals and formulas that remain contained within set periods of time. Even if our understanding of prayer has embraced deeper aspects of prayer such as lectio divina and contemplative prayer, the reality is that the command to pray without ceasing still can help shatter our smallness of mind. So often, we limit the potential of prayer by keeping it boxed into convenient categories.

For us to properly understand this dictate, we must embrace a vision of life in which Christ has complete sovereignty. His presence does not come to us solely at set moments, but is omnipresent, consistently beckoning to us to pay attention to his Holy Spirit throughout all our activities. Learning to allow this presence to take hold of our lives is a gift, a gift received after months and years of persistent and patient discipleship. It is the fruit of devotion and the faithful practice of the sacraments because in the sacraments we walk the path of interior illumination.

Pray with your new Rosary

When we gaze upon our Eucharistic Lord with a mind transfigured by faith, we train our senses and interior life to discover Christ's presence. From the sacramental encounter, prayer overflows into every aspect of our lives as we walk the path of conversion. Thus, we are stripped more and more from the attachments to self which strangle and choke this awareness, and this purgation takes time and the work of the Holy Spirit.


In this way, we are no longer confined to set periods of prayer, but we become prayer in the intimacy of our communion with Christ. Our set periods of prayer are meant to train the heart for this important work, to discipline the mind to focus on the task at hand. Of course, we must always spend time in the solitude of devotions, the sacraments, and other means of nourishing the heart with vocal prayers. However, such rituals of encounter must give rise to the spontaneous outpouring of the Spirit, in which hearts on flame are transfigured by the mysteries of the faith.

Today, let us walk the path of conversion. Let us embrace a life of prayer, confident that our Lord longs to give us the gift of praying without ceasing.

Deacon Ian VanHeusen is a transitional deacon for the Diocese of Raleigh. He has been called to the priesthood and will be ordained, God willing, on June 6, 2015. He blogs on prayer and meditation at www.contemplatio.us

Deacon Keith Fournier Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now >

---


'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'


Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.

Prayer of the Day logo
Saint of the Day logo

Catholic Online Logo

Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.

Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.