You sit down to pray. A few lines into the Our Father, you remember an unanswered message. That leads to tomorrow’s appointment, which leads to the thing you forgot at the grocery store. By the time you notice, you have been sitting quietly for several minutes without really praying.
It is discouraging, especially if you made an effort to set the time aside. But there is useful advice in the Catechism: when distractions come, return your attention to God. Getting absorbed in tracking down every distraction can itself become another distraction. Catechism 2729
Return to the prayer
You do not need to begin a long prayer again every time your thoughts wander. Once you notice, return to the words in front of you. If you are praying without a text, address God again in a sentence of your own.
Suppose you were praying for your brother and started mentally rewriting an email. You can simply return to your brother’s name and ask for what he needs. There is no need to spend the next five minutes deciding whether the previous five minutes counted.
Sometimes the thought that keeps returning is worth bringing into the prayer. If you are worried about your child, tell God that. If you are angry about a conversation, ask for help with the anger. Then continue. You are praying with the life you have, including the concerns that are hard to put down.
Remove the distractions you can remove
A phone buzzing beside you is a fairly solvable problem. Silence notifications. Close the other tabs. If you are using a prayer on your screen, open it before you begin rather than searching for it halfway through.
If your home is noisy, choose the quietest available moment. That might be ten minutes before anyone else gets up, or a short pause after lunch. A parent listening for a child will have a different kind of quiet from someone who lives alone. Make a reasonable arrangement for your circumstances.
The Catechism recommends definite times of prayer and names familiar daily rhythms, including morning prayer, evening prayer, and prayers at meals. A regular time gives prayer a place in the day even when you do not happen to feel especially recollected. Catechism 2697–2698
Keep a manageable appointment
A longer session is not always the best place to start. For the next few days, try praying one Our Father slowly, followed by a short period of silence. Decide beforehand when you will begin and roughly how long you will stay.
During the silence, you might thank God for something specific or pray for one person. When your attention wanders, return. Avoid checking the clock after every thought; a quiet timer can help if you find yourself doing that.
You may finish a prayer without feeling peaceful. That feeling alone tells you very little about whether it was worth praying. The Catechism also discusses dryness, including prayer that lacks the consolation a person hoped for. Catechism 2731
If the problem continues to trouble you, tell a priest or a trusted spiritual director what is actually happening. Be specific: when you pray, what you try to pray, and where your attention goes. Meanwhile, give yourself permission to return to today’s prayer at the point where you left it.
