Pray Constantly

We've been studying the Lord's Prayer in religion class recently, and today's lesson focused on how we are called to pray constantly.

How is that possible? Man, were the students' heads spinning on that one!

And we had a pretty solid discussion  on the topic with suggestions such as setting aside times to pray in the morning and evening, treating everyone like we would treat Jesus, doing things to honor and thank God, etc. One student even said that our whole lives are a prayer because God watches everything we do. (Wow)

For me, I know it's impossible to go from praying intermittently throughout the day to "praying constantly," but I've decided to try by doing a few steps at a time:

1 - When I first wake up in the morning, I recently set my cell phone alarm to ring with the phrase "Thank God today" printed across the screen - Just a quick reminder for starting the day off right.
2 - During breakfast, I try to meditate on the daily Gospel and reflection sent via Pray.ND.edu. (I get it delivered straight to my inbox - what a wonderful thing!)
3 - When I drive to school, I like to pray the Rosary or be in silence. Sometimes, though, this isn't possible, depending on if I am giving my roommate a ride or not. But if I can do it a few days a week, that's improvement.
4 - At the transition of each class, I want to remember to send up a little prayer to God to ask for patience, help, or even thank Him for how the last class period went. (And we also pray as a school at the beginning of the day, and we pray as a class before lunch and dismissal.)
5 - Evening prayer needs to become a more consistent part of each day. (I have to admit I sometimes become lazy with that.)

And the list needs to go on...but I find that trying to change/add/modify too much at once isn't feasible. I'd rather start small and do well with those and then build from there.

Are you ready to make prayer more constant in your life?