Personal Question

This has changed a lot for me over the years. Like you, I was raised Catholic, and when I was young, I went through all the memorized prayers or the rosary without even thinking about what I was praying. Now, it's more as you described...I silently go to this wise and all-knowing "elder" for support or strength or to give thanks for all the blessings in my life. It does bring me a sense of peace, and though there are so many mysteries when it comes to religion, I am grateful that I have a faith in God that I can call upon.

You and Yvette sound just like me... raised going through the motions of being Catholic but with no real sense of what it meant to me. I pray mostly prayers of gratitude now, and ask for strength, tolerance, or whatever I believe it will take for myself or others to get through a situation.

I pretty much just talk to God in my head whenever! I try not to constantly ask for things-I kinda just talk to Him as if He was standing right next to me! I am Catholic as well but I pretty much do my own thing!

I'm pretty much like michelle I would say. Most of it is quiet, internal, unscheduled...
Take care.

I have given up on organized religion... but not on a relationship with God.... journalling, for me, can be very much a time of prayer... of not only asking but also of listening.

I pray all over, I hardly ever get to church. I am a catholic and raised my girls that way...but. I am just not the church goer..

D! nice article. answer- A LOT!

I dont pray at all.

I will be honest...I don't pray.

I was raised Catholic. I also raised my children Catholic. They went to CCD and made all of their sacraments. Honestly, I was never inspired by mass. I always wished I could be. After my divorce I just stopped going all together. I felt like a hypocrite.
These days.. I am more spiritual then religious. I prefer it this way.
I always talk to God. He is my mentor.

I actually pray in different ways. I sometimes fold my hands and close my eyes. This is usally at night before sleep over comes me. I have actully fell asleep praying this way. makes me feel bad. I do pray through the day or at least say Thank you Jesus and holler our praise Jesus so my kids will know how much I love my lord and savior. My mom did this for us kids growing up. I am doing it for my kids now.

For posting this

My grandma taught me that God is everywhere around us and he walks with us in our dayly lives and hears our every word and that we must treat othersx as we would want them to treat us. Because of my disability and it keeping me in the hospital at lot she taught us they do not have to always have to be in church to love God and show him our love by being in church. She said he knew our hearts. I pray every morning and night. And talk to God all during my day so he can show me that the path I am on from day to day is the right one. In my way of looking at it, it is a thing I can not afford not to do.

Raised Catholic also and even went to a Catholic school. Which in some ways I think may have disillusioned me about the whole idea of "organized religion". Some of those nuns were the meanest people I ever met in my life. I remember one who was given the very appropriate nickname of "the mighty midget" hitting a kid so hard than slamming his head in to a chalkboard and actually picking him up right off his feet. Now he was a very bad kid but I don't think that what she did was called for in any way. My thing with that was if these were the people that as we were told than were "closer to God" and they were so mean how can they pretend that they were indeed spreading the true word of god.

I agree with many above who say that they talk with God in their heads or that God is a big part of their everyday life. I think that also in so many ways. at least in the talking to him/her part. But the idea of "organized religion" especially how rigid the Catholic form of that was has greatly disillusioned me.

I wake every morning and thank God for waking me and my family up another day. I go into praise and worship and then prayer, I also read my bible. Throughout the day I'm thanking him and giving honor to him. I read a prayer out of a prayer book daily and read my book(religion/spiritual) every night.

When I pray I just talk to God like he were a friend.

Wow Bob I went to CAtholic school and I had a nun that slammed a certain kid into the blackboard all the time!! I was always afraid of the anger I saw when it came to religion from my school years!!
I am glad it is not that way anymore.

I don't pray. If it makes you happy, I'm happy for you.

I'm an agnostic. I don't take a position one way or the other as to whether there's a god, though I do believe if god were in control of things down here, everything would work much better. I think it's up to humans to solve the problems they've created, otherwise it's like a college student expecting his parents to bail him out of every jam he gets into.

hi Danielle... i was raised Catholic too... over the years i have stopped going to church but i definitely have a relationship with God... i talk to him all the time, every day and night...
He is the only reason i am alive today... He has helped me through so many tough times and i know He loves me.... no matter how down i may feel, i still know that God has me in the palm of his hand.. i thank him for all he does for me and the world even though it seems like the world is crumbling around us... He is my only Lord, God and Savior until the end of my life... .. i pray every nite and day for all my friends and family and all my new Gather friends.... thanks for asking this question...
love, necee


Friendship Comments - DazzleJunction.com

This is the second question I have posted this answer to so nope you are not at all alone in your quest.....
I was born Catholic also....I have returned to the "chruch" and I put that in quotes for a reason...for I believe in the basis of the Religion but I do have a huge problem with the Human interpretation of the laws that govern it. So I attend the Mass and get my spirit healed as is the reason for the Mass but I believe what I believe of the underlying teachings of the overall "Church Rule" as a whole and I accept that it is humans that are making these interpretations and that ultimately God the Father will be the one who Judges.

Danielle I too was raised Catholic and I myself taught CCD for 17 years, enrolled my daughter in Catholic School for the first 4 years of her school life and even though I say the prayers that the church taught me..the rosary, etc...I also pray to God on a personal level, talking to him as if I would anyone else, afterall, it is my understanding that he made us in his image, and is a loving and caring God, so therefore I feel that talking to him he understands.

I don't prey. I absorb the beauty of nature where ever I can find it and think calming deep thoughts when I am troubled. I also try to be positive and happy around people because I believe that what I am affects those around me. I'm not always successful, just ask hubby, but I constantly remind myself that calm and happy is better then agitated and sad.

I am a Messianic Jewish believer. I pray and talk to God all the time. I do not believe in man made rules of religion to practice. I pray and believe on a one on one personal relationship with Yeshua, Jesus..

Sometimes prayer for me is a quick one line sentence asking God to care for someone or give me strength. More often in prayer I imagine I am holding my hands open and letting my thoughts, needs, concerns flow to God. I don't worry about being selfish in my prayers or not praying the "right" way. The Apostle Paul said we can share all with God. I don't get all tied up with the idea if God will answer my prayer or not. I trust God. In prayer I hope I will receive guidance, comfort, strength, and wisdom. I need to say something about attending church. Not all churches are the same even in the same denomination. I appreciate being with others who have faith and we worship together. I believe we need a community to strengthen us. But we need to find a community that allows us to worship.

i do not do the traditional prayer,but i do have a chit chat with god time to time-he never answers though

when i pray i just talk to god...just as if i was talking to a person...sometimes out loud...sometimes in my head. he hears me either way!

My faith is private.. I try to live my life according to the way one is supposed to... Walking with Jesus. Certainly, I'm a sinner but that's why I pray...

The Bible say we're supposed to "pray without ceasing." When I was a kid, there was a dear Catholic woman old enough to be my grandmother living next door. She taught me to pray when I was cleaning the bathroom. (It's one task that most family members won't interrupt lest they be asked to help?) She taught me to pray for each person in the family as I folded their clothes. She taught me to pray as I stirred the soup in the stove, that everyone would be well nourished and well. I wrote about her at another site. I should post that here. :-)

I always envied her her rosary beads. She never seemed to tire of having me show up during the day. Sometimes she was tired, since she took care of her mother-in-law whose stoke had left her with the brain of a child (and that dear old lady only spoke Polish). I'd find her rocking in her chair with her rosary beads in her lap. When I told her I wanted some, she told me that in my faith - Protestant - I didn't need the rosaries. She was also the first person who ever suggested using my fingers to remember for whom to pray - family, friends, government officials, etc.

Constantly as if he were a well respected friend. But a lot of times I meditate on scriptures that I am reading to see what God puts on my heart.