This simple method helps get my wandering prayer back on track
Full disclosure: Sometimes I have a difficult time staying focused when I pray. I have the best intentions, I know it’s something good to do, and I set time aside for it. But I sometimes struggle to maintain my focus during a prayer session.
Whether I’m saying rote prayers like the rosary, trying to meditate, or reading a passage from Scripture, my mind sometimes wanders to something else — what I’m doing later that day, a particularly pressing problem, what’s for dinner. Sometimes I can get back on task easily — sometimes not.
One thing I’ve found that helps get me back into “prayer mode” is to pray with prepositions: by, with, of, in and for. I first got this idea when leading prayers at the Jesuit high school where I work. I’d sometimes invite students and staff to “Imagine yourself being sent forth by God, with God, of God, in God and always for God.” Now when I struggle to stay in prayer mode, I take my own advice. I close my eyes and pray B:WOIF (pronounced “be-woif”).
I begin by focusing on the idea that I was and am being created BY GOD. Psalm 139 tells me that God “formed my inmost being” and “knit me in my mother’s womb.” I take solace in the fact that I was created by God. That reminds me that I am inherently good. I think, too, about a prayer in St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises that reminds me that I am created “momently” by God. In each moment of each day, God gives me an opportunity to fulfill God’s divine plan in me.
I then focus on the notion that I am WITH GOD. After creating me, God didn’t simply jettison me into the world. God walks with me on my journey and is present with me always. Knowing that God is always with me is comforting and uplifting.
I move from the notion of being with God to a reflection on how I am OF GOD. I focus on the idea that I am created in God’s image, that I participate in that which is divine. St. Ignatius’ foundational belief is that God exists in all things — including me. I celebrate being of God and the opportunity that it presents to manifest God’s presence in my life.
The next of the prepositions I bring to prayer is in. I pray in gratitude for being IN GOD — held in God’s loving hands, planted and growing in God’s heart. This reminder that I am constantly in God’s love leaves me feeling safe, warm, loved.
And finally, after being mindful that I am by God, with God, of God, and in God, I feel ready for the challenge to go out into my day FOR GOD. I picture myself sent forth into my day for God — not to be someone I’m not, but to be the best someone I can be, the one I’m created to be. I envision myself moving through the day conscious of doing what I do for God. What will I choose to do? How will I choose to interact with family members, friends and co-workers?
Praying with these prepositions takes me about 10–15 minutes. I rest in each part of B:WOIF, taking solace, comfort, direction and energy to move forward with my day. B:WOIF doesn’t always get me back on track with the praying I started, but it does leave me feeling God’s powerful presence in my life.
Matt Barmore is a teacher at Seattle Preparatory School, the soon-to-be executive director of the Ignatian Spirituality Center and a member of Seattle’s Our Lady of the Lake Parish.
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Northwest Catholic - May 2016