Catholic Prayer and Internal Distraction

We face two general obstacles in the life of Catholic prayer. The first category of obstacles is the things that distract us from our spiritual lives. I call these “external distractions” since they occur outside of our prayer, and mostly outside of our minds and hearts. The other category of obstacles is internal distractions. These are the things that distract us within our attempts to pray. They mostly come from inside our hearts and our minds.

Let’s explore some of the most common internal distractions.

Lack of Mental Focus

If you find your mind wandering while you’re on your knees, the first factor to look at is your mental focus. While Catholic prayer is not a mere matter of mental focus like modern meditation is, mental discipline is an underlying skill that often goes overlooked. Furthermore, modern culture does a lot more to undermine this virtue than at any other time in history. We live in a world of instant and constant entertainment, sound bytes, and 3-minute videos. Is it really any wonder that we can’t settle our brains and focus our minds on God for 30 minutes?

We often blame our inability to focus on having too much to worry about. That may be partially true. However, if we get a handle on our external distractions by developing the natural and supernatural virtues of prudence, we can still be distracted because we are unable to control our thoughts.

Lack of Interiority

Closely related to the lack of mental focus is a lack of interiority. In order to pray well, we need the ability to tune out the outside world and all of its demands and to live – at least for a time – inside our own minds and hearts. Many people find the life of introspection, reflection, and quietude very uncomfortable. Again, we live in a culture that promotes noise and that continually draws our attention to external stimulation.

What’s more, turning our attention to the inside is a scary proposition. It means shining light on the dark places of our hearts. What will we find? What sinfulness and selfishness will be uncovered? What weakness will be exposed? Perhaps most frightening, what if we look inside and find nothing at all?

That’s why building an interior life needs to start with the truth about who we are in Christ Jesus. Once we’re grounded in the truth that we are children of God and princes and princesses of the Kingdom, then we have the fortitude to look at our lives for what they really are. We will then be able to cooperate with grace in order to conquer our sin, weakness, and darkness and to meet Jesus in our hearts.

Debilitating Doubt

It can happen in the middle of prayer. You’re connecting with God. You’re focused on meditation. Suddenly you’re hit with the doubt:

• You start thinking that you are not worthy to be in God’s presence. You are reminded of all of your sins, vices, and weaknesses.
• Or maybe you start to wonder if God even hears your prayers. You wonder if the God of the universe could really care for someone as insignificant as you.
• Or you may start thinking that the path to holiness is just too difficult. Turning away from sin is too hard. Perfection is impossible. Spending all of this time in prayer is a waste of time since you’re just going to Hell anyway.

Thoughts like these can come into the most disciplined mind. Sometimes they come from diabolical sources. Satan and His demons do attempt to disrupt prayer. Other times they reflect areas of our own lives that still need conversion. We sometimes reject truths about our relationship
with God because we find them uncomfortable or we don’t think we’re worthy. Sometimes we lose heart for prayer because our prayers are not answered according to our own will. These thoughts can also come from ignorance of the faith or from the sins of pride or selfishness.

Whatever their source, doubts can stop our prayer cold in its tracks. We cannot keep these thoughts from coming. The goal is to learn how to handle them when they do come.

Ignorance of the Goals of Catholic Prayer

Many Catholics doubt that they have a true prayer life. Even if they pray regularly, they are left wondering if they are “doing it right.” I find the main problem in these cases is a lack of understanding of the true purpose of prayer. For example, if we grew up believing that prayer only means asking God for what we need or want, we are missing out on the main purpose of prayer. Likewise, if we think of prayer only as a duty to be performed (pray your Rosary every day!), we are missing out on the main purpose of prayer.

Catholic prayer is always unity with the Holy Trinity through the person of Jesus Christ. Meaningful prayer is intimacy with God. Everything else we do in prayer, whether we’re asking for good things or meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, should lead us to divine intimacy.

So is meaningfulness dependent on how we feel, whether we feel close to God? Absolutely not. Rather, intimacy means knowing God. We grow in intimacy by learning about God and then bringing that knowledge into prayer and asking God to reveal Himself to us. That’s what the mysteries of the Holy Rosary help us to do. It also helps if we know the various ways that God communicates His intimacy with us.

Dryness and Desolations

Especially as we become more advanced in the spiritual life (but sometimes for beginners as well), it is very common to experience periods of spiritual dryness. Sometimes this dryness is caused by our own selfishness and boredom. But the more advanced we get in our relationship with God, the more likely it is that our dryness is the effect of God taking us to the next level by removing consolations from us. Consolations are emotional and spiritual signs of God’s love. We might feel God close to us. We might even experience a supernatural manifestation of His presence. These signs are encouragements in our quest for intimacy with the Holy Trinity.

God leads us in our relationship with Him like a parent leads a toddler learning how to walk.  He holds our hands at first. But as we take our first halting steps closer to Him, He takes a step back. Then He waits for us to take the next steps by ourselves. He removes His consolations to encourage us to seek God for His sake rather than for our own. While He wants us to experience His love, He doesn’t want the signs of His love to become the reason we enter into prayer.

In the spiritual life, the feelings of dryness, abandonment, and darkness are called “desolations.” When they come from God they are part of the growth process. Saint John of the Cross called them the “dark nights.”

However, desolations can also come from evil the Enemy or from our own fallen psychology. In those cases, they can become obstacles to prayer.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola taught us the discernment of spirits and how to respond to desolations depending on their source. If we discern that the desolation is coming from God, we need to embrace it and continue to seek God anyway. This is what Saint Teresa of Calcutta experienced in her life of spiritual dryness. If we discern that the desolations are coming from an evil spirit (our own fallenness or demonic influences), we need to reject them – and continue to seek God anyway.

Overcoming Internal Distractions

Overcoming internal distractions takes perseverance and growth in spiritual virtues that counteract them. These virtues are clearly taught in From the Abbey‘s Practical Prayer program. You can also learn how to overcome internal distractions through articles and videos in the prayer category and in the articles from the “Chapel” in the member newsletter. If this article speaks to your need in the spiritual life, I want to invite you to consider the opportunity below to get more involved in From the Abbey’s programming. I’d love to take the next step toward holiness with you!

Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.