Even if we don’t climb to the height of holiness, or enjoy mystical contemplation to the point that our whole lives become suffused with it, we can strive to be more prayerful than we are, and we need to do nothing else but to give ourselves to God throughout the day to accomplish it.
One of the shortest verses of the Bible is a daunting exhortation from Saint Paul: “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:16). Not “pray often,” or even “pray every day,” but without ceasing. For most of us, our attentiveness during prayer waxes and wanes. This demands of us at times a great struggle akin to Jacob wrestling the angel, which the Catechism teaches is the “symbol of prayer as a battle of faith and as the triumph of perseverance” (CCC 2573). There are lots of extrinsic things that can impede our prayer. When all of our distractions converge, it is tempting to stop praying and to do something mind-numbing instead. How can we pray without ceasing when it can be so challenging?
A 17th-century Carmelite named Brother Lawrence modeled how to pray without ceasing through what he called the “practice of the presence of God.” His contemplative way is recorded in a spiritual classic of the same name. Br. Lawrence gave himself wholly to contemplating the presence of God in himself at the beginning of his life as a Carmelite. God is present where he acts, and so long as our soul has faith, hope, and love, God is supernaturally present to us. When we are joyful, when we are sad, when we are optimistic, when we are anxious, and, yes, even when we are so tired that we are doing nothing but trying to keep from falling asleep in a holy hour—God is present. The presence of God in his soul captivated Friar Lawrence.
But this prayer didn’t come easily for him. As Br. Lawrence attests, he spent years just fighting to overcome his distractions before recollected contemplation became any easier. When it did become easier and habitual, Br. Lawrence began to experience no distinction between the times the monastery set aside for prayer and the rest of the hours of the day. He could simply delight in the presence of God within him no matter what he was doing.
When we go through stages of prayer in which our soul is lacking in consolation, as Friar Lawrence experienced, God still remains with us. If we persevere in wrestling with him, we hope that we can come to attend to him at all times. We just have to keep turning the eyes of our spirit back to him.
Recollecting the presence of God is especially good because it requires nothing of us but to give ourselves to God. We don’t need to memorize a text, go through a mental exercise, or say anything out loud to be recollected. This makes recollection very compatible with different parts of a busy day, even while working. In order to begin building this habit, it is helpful to associate certain mundane activities with prayer to turn the mind back to God. For example, Blessed Hyacinth Marie Cormier, a former Master of the Dominican Order, suggested associating walking through a door frame as a reminder to recollection. You can find something like that suitable to your own circumstances; an ordinary thing you do to remind you of God throughout the day to sanctify these ordinary moments.
Even if we don’t climb to the height of holiness like Br. Lawrence, or enjoy mystical contemplation to the point that our whole lives become suffused with it, we can strive to be more prayerful than we are, and we need to do nothing else but to give ourselves to God throughout the day to accomplish it.
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Republished with gracious permission from Dominicana (September 2025).
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Image: Bartholomeus Breenbergh, Jacob Wrestling With the Angel
