For the last episode of this series, Marci Combo and I discuss what prayer looks like for each of us. We answer a couple of questions that listeners have asked about: how our relationships with each person of the Holy Trinity (God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) work in our prayer lives, and what our daily prayer routines tend to look like.

We also touch on topics that haven't yet been discussed in this series including: the sacraments, praise and worship, the value of friends who are like-minded in faith, parts in our lives where prayer has been more difficult, and more! We hope you enjoy this candid conversation!

After this episode, The Better Part will be taking a break! Keep subscribed to this podcast, and look forward to the next series coming up in a couple of months. Follow @thebetterpartpod on Instagram to be kept up-to-date on when and what that series will be! Can't wait to see you then!

Please share your feedback for future episodes and series through this form: https://forms.gle/Wb1svgcskrxQaCoP8

Join in for a rosary that follows along with verses from God's Holy Word! The rosary is a beautiful, effective prayer that allows you to meditate on "mysteries" while repeating rote prayers. If you've never prayed the rosary, check out this thorough and helpful page from Hallow. It gives an explanation of what the rosary is, why we pray it, and how to pray it. https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray-the-rosary/#why For more scriptural rosaries, check out Kate and Mike, Catholic Crusade on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2kswYgBvPQMOvzn4Z3Yi5Q?si=CjBIpjhhTXmsN6o6x-adjg&context=spotify%3Aplaylist%3A5uz4hhJ2QYtsIJ7Xf4pb32 Lastly, if you'd like to give feedback for the next series of this podcast, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/Wb1svgcskrxQaCoP8

Whether we show up nice and neat or as a big ol' mess, God is 100% present to us! Reflect about how He loves us despite our mess and then join in for another led meditation.

This meditation comes from the book An Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales. It prompts you to consider how you were created fully by God and not by your own doing. The world would have gone on without you, but God deemed to create you out of love for this time in particular. In gratitude, we offer our praise and thanks to Him and apologize for when we forget this fact!

This amazing book has more wonderful meditations as well as simple, short chapters that can prompt your heart toward God. I receive absolutely nothing if you buy this book, I just truly think it is wonderful! Check it out here: https://a.co/d/fSr2kp5

Let's talk about Lent and then meditate on scripture together! This episode uses imaginative prayer, which is a beautiful way to dive deeper into a narrative passage of the Bible and pick up on details you may have missed in a simple reading.

If you want to do more imaginative prayer on your own and would like a guide, check out this website:

https://campusministry.nd.edu/pray/ways-to-pray/imaginative-prayer-with-scripture/

Sometimes this type of imaginative prayer is called Lectio Divina, but there is also another form of Lectio Divina where you read a part of scripture several times and allow it to affect you deeper each time. This can be used with passages that aren't necessarily narrative, like Psalms, verses from epistles of the New Testament, or other verses from the Bible. If you'd like some directions on how to do this type of meditation, check out this link:

https://campusministry.nd.edu/pray/ways-to-pray/lectio-divina/

If you like led meditations on scripture, check out the Pray as You Go Podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-pray-as-you-go/id1447749598

This episode goes through some of St. Ignatius' Rules for Spiritual Discernment. This is huge for understanding God's voice and voices of evil spirits in your life. Sometimes feeling God's presence and understanding his voice is easy and sometimes it is really hard! Sometimes our prayer feels fueling, refreshing, and like deep communion with God, and sometimes prayer feels dry and like we are just wandering along.

In his rules for discernment of spirits, St. Ignatius helps us understand 1) how God's voice sounds depending on our spiritual state (AKA how much sin or virtue rules our lives), 2) what to do when God doesn't feel near, and 3) what to do when we are feeling particularly close to God and living on a spiritual high.

Listen in to hear the basics of these rules for discernment and then check out the written rules here:

https://scepterpublishers.org/blogs/scepter-blog-corner/14-rules-for-the-discernment-of-spirits-by-st-ignatius-of-loyola

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, prayer is just hard. Sometimes it is due to logistical difficulties. If that is you, go back and check out the "Prayer: Practicals" and "Prayer: Troubleshooting & Tips" episodes.

But sometimes, it's just hard because of stuff we are going through in our personal lives. Major financial difficulties, depression, difficult diagnoses, and more can all affect our every day state, and this can be a huge barrier to prayer. Though we may have nothing to say to God, or seemingly nothing to offer Him, God is no further away. In fact, He has the tendency to come in closer to the broken hearted, the hungry, the lowly. Whether you are feeling His presence or not, know that you are HIS and He has not forgotten you.

If you are struggling to find anything to say to God, that is OK. I encourage you to (1.) find a guided prayer to lead you through. Continue to attempt daily prayer as an anchor in your life. Putting yourself in His word daily will remind you of truth and will help you remember His presence. (2.) Try to see how He is working in your life through little blessings and miracles. And (3.) remind yourself of the truth. You are His beloved. He will never forsake you. Psalm 139 can remind you that you are always His.

If you know of someone in a tough state, share this episode with them! They may need some encouragement that God is still there, even if they aren't able to be fully present with Him.

Prayer: Practicals - https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/SpjjOLXXLGb

Prayer: Troubleshooting & Tips - https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/AcYPZewLtGb

Let's talk contemplative prayer! Many saints before us have thrived with hours of contemplative prayer every day, "sitting in the room with Jesus."

If vocal prayer is us talking to Jesus and meditative prayer is us focusing on Jesus, contemplative prayer is us listening to Jesus. It is not about our actions, but about God's actions and listening to what He wants to say to us.

This is easier said than done, though. Our world is LOUD, BUSY, and DISTRACTING. And our brains are trained to flit from thought to thought, struggling to quiet ourselves enough to hear the still, quiet voice of the Holy Spirit. In this episode, I share some tips about how to attempt contemplative prayer, with the knowledge that in the end, it will be God's decision to speak to us. We can trust that He knows what we need to hear and when we need to hear it.

Though it is hard, contemplative prayer is so worth it because:

1. God is real and He is good
2. He wants good things for us
3. It is good for us to learn to be quiet and listen
4. When we know God's voice well, we will be able to recognize it in other parts of our lives.

"My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand." John 10:27-28

This episode dives into MEDITATIVE prayer, which takes a little more focus, discipline, and time than vocal prayer. Meditative prayer is beautiful for growing our virtues of patience and helping us develop more intimacy with Jesus! You can meditate on all kinds of things, including: scripture, prayers, pictures, nature, or even just a word. By training our bodies to slow down and focus, we can go much deeper into a portion of the Bible or into a truth that God wants to reveal to us.

Since we are physical people, don't skimp on preparing your body to meditate. Remove all distractions, get comfortable, and take some slow breaths before trying to dive into meditation. And remember that we are seeking a deep relationship with Jesus, not just the good feelings that may come from prayer. Feelings come and feelings go, and we'll talk about that more in a couple of episodes!

Some resources to look into for meditation are:

• The Rosary
• Lectio Divina
• Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales
• Ignatian Audio Meditations

Try to take some time this week to meditate! I recommend taking a gospel story that you know well. Read the story a few times and try to picture the elements involved. Then, after asking the Holy Spirit to help you, try to "dive into" the story. Either picturing yourself as a character or "watching" it as a movie. Take the story SLOWLY and linger on any elements that stand out to you. Afterwards, journal about anything that stood out to you or surprised you from your meditation.

Some ideas are:

• Luke 5:1-11 - Jesus calling Peter
• John 11 - Jesus raising Lazarus
• Luke 8:43-48 - The Hemorrhaging Woman
• Mark 4:35-41 - Jesus calms the storm

Once we have established a solid routine of prayer, we can work on deepening our prayer so that we can grow closer to Jesus! This episode speaks on many different types of vocal prayer (any time you are speaking to God either out loud, in your heart, or written words). I encourage you to open your heart and ask the Holy Spirit to draw out one type of prayer you can work on. OR you may just choose to just start ordering your prayer according to an acronym I share about:

(A)doration

(C)ontrition

(T)hanksgiving

(S)upplication

Regardless of what our prayers look like, remember that God looks at the heart. A short, simple prayer said from the depths of your soul is more meaningful than a long, eloquent prayer said without presence of mind and heart. Let us never be like the people from Matthew 15:8, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." Let us be women who say what we mean and mean what we say, especially when it comes to speaking to Jesus!

Theme music written and produced by Jeffrey Azar.

When life is inconsistent, it can be really hard to find consistency in your prayer! In this episode, we’ll do some troubleshooting. I’ll share the experiences of a few different women that can help you figure out how to make the time for prayer even when life changes. I’ll also give some overall tips that might be helpful! In the next three episodes, we will focus on deepening our prayer lives and therefore our relationships with Jesus! Theme music written and produced by Jeffrey Azar.

In this episode, Jenna defines what she means by consistent, daily prayer and goes through an acronym that lists aspects of a good prayer life. Use this acronym to look at your own prayer and see if there are any ways you can improve the environment in which you pray! Next week, she’ll discuss troubleshooting, which can help you if you struggle to find the time of your day to devote to prayer, plus give some more tips from her experience and that of others. The acronym to think about before next episode is: (A)rea (D)uration (E)xclusivity (P)lan (T)ime of Day

Theme music written and produced by Jeffrey Azar.