While traveling with a poor farmer, Saint Bernard kept his eyes downcast and prayed silently. The farmer was confused and asked the abbot why he did that. Bernard replied that he did it to keep himself from being distracted during prayer. The farmer boldly proclaimed, “I’m never distracted when I pray.” The saint objected, “I don’t believe it. Now let me make a bargain with you. If you can say the Our Father without one distraction, I’ll give you this mule I’m riding. But if you don’t succeed, you must come with me and be a monk.” The farmer agreed and began praying, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name . . .” After pausing for a moment he asked the abbot, “Does that include the saddle and the bridle, too?”
If we are honest with ourselves, we know the difficulty in staying focused during prayer. The good news is that we are not alone, even the saints struggled with distractions.
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But why is it so hard to stay focused during prayer? If we can’t eliminate distractions, can we at least greatly reduce their frequency?
To answer that question, we will look at some ways our culture has contributed to our inattention and then examine some suggestions from the saints as well as look at some practical ways we can reclaim our focus.
First, here are some statistics about our very limited attention span:
| The average attention span in 2015 | 8.25 seconds |
| The average attention span in 2000 | 12 seconds |
| The average attention span of a gold fish | 9 seconds |
| Average length watched of a single internet video | 2.7 minutes |
It does not take an expert to understand the causes behind our decreased ability to stay focused. The speed of the Internet and the rise of smartphones have made us accustomed to instant communication and instant entertainment.
We do not have to wait for someone to respond or spend our afternoons leafing through books in a library. Even packages are being delivered to us instantly. What used to take days, or months, is all accessible at the push of a button.
Unfortunately, this has led us to want that same experience during prayer. We want God to act now and for prayer to simply “happen.” What we find instead is that prayer does not come easily and we struggle to keep our attention on God.
So what is a person to do? Should we give up?
No. We need to struggle and keep struggling against distractions.
St. Ammonas the Hermit once said,
“It is indeed essential for a man to take up the struggle against his thoughts if the veils woven from his thoughts and covering up his intellect are to be removed, thus enabling him to turn his gaze without difficulty toward God and to avoid following the will of his wandering thoughts” (Saintly Solutions, emphasis added).
Before St. Francis of Assisi would enter a church to pray he would say, “Worldly and frivolous thoughts, stay here at the door until I return” (Saintly Solutions).
Just as St. Bernard and St. Francis knew what they needed to do to combat distractions, we should take appropriate measures to reduce needless distractions that prevent us from conversing with God.
What follows are some practical tips from the Church, the saints and human nature that can aid us in the battle against distractions:
1. Examine and set your priorities
One of the reasons why we are distracted by other tasks during prayer is because we have not set our priorities and everything in our mind is on an equal playing field. That means “God” and “prayer” receive the same amount of attention as “a project at work” or “household chores.” The Catechism explains:
2729 The habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction. It can affect words and their meaning in vocal prayer; it can concern, more profoundly, him to whom we are praying, in vocal prayer (liturgical or personal), meditation, and contemplative prayer. To set about hunting down distractions would be to fall into their trap, when all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart: for a distraction reveals to us what we are attached to, and this humble awareness before the Lord should awaken our preferential love for him and lead us resolutely to offer him our heart to be purified. Therein lies the battle, the choice of which master to serve (emphasis added).
This profound paragraph from the Catechism reminds us of two important truths. The first is to resist the temptation to actively engage distractions during prayer and “hunt” them down. What results is that we spend our prayer focusing on our distractions and not on God.
The second is to set our priorities. If we place prayer above all the other tasks that we have, our mind knows what is most important and will focus on that.
2. Reduce the habit of multi-tasking
If we find ourselves trying to multi-task during prayer, it is probably a habit we do all the time. The problem with too much multi-tasking is that we end up doing a lot of activities poorly instead of one activity perfectly. Our attention gets spread out and our mind becomes frazzled. It should come as no surprise that when we sit down for prayer, we can’t help but try to multi-task and think about a million different things at once.
Instead, we should work towards reducing our habit of multi-tasking and only focusing on one activity at a time.
3. Fast from technology
A great way to reset our attention is to do a fast from technology for a full day (or even a half-day). Put away the smartphone, computer and TV and see what happens. If you find yourself not knowing what to do, take a walk outside and enjoy nature. It is amazing how the natural world can reset our attention and help us feel much more focused.
One practice to consider is to fast from technology one hour before prayer. Our mind needs some rest from all of the stimulation and fasting from technology can help us quiet ourselves for prayer.
4. Pray slowly and carefully
Another practice that helps us stay focused during prayer is to pray slowly and carefully. Many religious congregations instruct their community to pray the Divine Office in this way. It is very tempting to pray the Our Father in 30 seconds or less, but does that really count as prayer? If we focus our attention on the words we say and do so deliberately, our mind is able to keep its attention on the task at hand.
5. Invoke the Holy Spirit’s Help!
Last, but not least, call upon the Holy Spirit for guidance! God should be the first person we ask for help when it comes to distractions. The Holy Spirit is our Advocate and is the one who teaches us how to pray. Just as the apostles asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us how to pray,” we too should ask the Holy Spirit for help.
Summary
To conclude, we live in a world where the average attention span is less than a goldfish and that greatly impacts our ability to pray. We need to struggle and combat the various distractions and discover what it is that helps us stay focused. Above all things, we should take our weaknesses to God and ask Him for help.
Read the Entire Series
- The Secret to Praying Without Looking at the Clock
- 4 Distractions During Prayer and How to Overcome Them
- Are You Distracted During Prayer?
Sources:
Saintly Solutions to Life’s Common Problems: From Anger, Boredom, and Temptation to Gluttony, Gossip, and Greed