Common Catholic Prayer Myths

1. More is better

It’s easy to fall into the error that “more prayer is necessarily better” because, to be honest, most of us don’t pray enough. As an analogy, a common health struggle is that we don’t exercise enough. So the easy conclusion is that more exercise is always a healthy thing. But that’s not a principle that applies across the board. You could actually hurt yourself by working out too much during any given time frame.
The point is – that the purpose of life is not to spend as much time as possible in prayer, but to have a relationship with my creator that is – Just Right!
Not everyone is called to the same vocation in life. Trying to live like a monk, when I’m called to be a mother, spouse, and physician, is going to throw my entire life out of whack.

2. It’s all about the words

The most common Catholic prayer that exists is the Rosary. And it’s a sad thing that Catholic prayer is so often reduced to this one very limited style. Imagine if you spent your entire workout deadlifting! Obviously, deadlifting is a great exercise, but if that’s all you do, your overall health will suffer some severe detriments.
Many wonderful and very necessary ways to pray are often entirely neglected, such as:

Silence
Feeling
Reflecting
Meditating
Listening

Deciding
Thanking
Imagining
Remembering
Choosing, etc.

What matters most in prayer are not the words we say, but the change that actually takes place within us because of our time spent with God.

3. God needs me to pray

I mean, he demands that we pray, so he must get something out of it, right?
Uhhh … no!
God doesn’t need squat from you or me. Prayer is not about God, it’s about me! Not in a selfish way, but the only one who changes in prayer is me, not God. He cannot change – he’s infinite, all-powerful, all-wise, and all-knowing.
I need prayer because I need God to exist. And the only definition of goodness, greatness, or success that matters is, in summary, whether or not something is Godly.

In summary

As a kid, I spent time praying with my family, but my notion of a healthy relationship with God was limited. It took time for me to realize that learning to pray is basically the purpose of life, and no matter who you are, where you are, or what you’re doing – you’re praying!
The myths we pick up about prayer need to be purified so that we can find real peace, purpose, and happiness in his presence.