Overcome Spiritual Dryness in Prayer

Collection of Internet Resources

 

 

  • “Dryness in Prayer – How Can We Overcome Dryness in Prayer?”: Dryness in prayer is a common affliction among even the most devoted Christians. Persistence and vigilance are necessary to overcome this.
     
  • “Experiences of Boredom or Dryness in Prayer” by Kevin O’Brien, SJ, from The Ignatian Adventure. Our relationship with God in prayer has a certain rhythm. There are moments of great highs and lows but also very ordinary times. Most of life is in fact quite ordinary. In our prayer life, we can be quick to judge these ordinary times. “Nothing is happening,” we may say with frustration, particularly if we feel boredom or dryness when we pray. We can experience a strong temptation to stop praying or to shortchange our prayer time.
     
  • “How the Saints Overcame Spiritual Dryness”: by Fr. Joseph M. Esper. God allows us to undergo this period of testing and growth so that we may progress in our spiritual lives. St. Paul writes, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways” (1 Cor. 13:11). His example of growing and developing as a person applies here: quite possibly the reason our previously satisfying experiences of prayer no longer appeal to us is that the Lord is calling us to a more mature faith, one requiring a deeper foundation.
     
  • “On Spiritual Dryness”: In my experience, it feels just like that. It’s like walking in the desert looking for nourishment and not being able to find any. It makes me feel as if I don’t want to pray. It’s almost like I don’t feel God’s presence even though I know — in my heart of hearts—He’s there. It is discouraging, especially when establishing a consistent prayer life…
     
  • “Overcoming Dryness in Prayer”: by Michael Cretaro (Catholic Stand). There’s probably a good chance there are others, like me, who get bogged down in their everyday attempts to pray. But not giving up on prayer when the going gets tough is the only real solution to overcoming dryness in prayer.
     
  • “Spiritual Dryness”:
    In Catholic spirituality, spiritual dryness is a lack of spiritual consolation in one’s spiritual life. It is a period of time that can be from days long to years in length when one experience a great distance from God. It is a time frame during which one feel deprived of spiritual feelings, especially during contemplative prayer.
     
  • “St. Mother Teresa and Spiritual Desolation”:
    Spiritual desolation in the Ignatian sense is a period of unrest and disquiet. It is a time of unsettlement when God feels far away. The soul in desolation struggles to pray and wonders why it even should pray. In desolation we may feel as if we are in a dark corridor of uncertainty. We question. We feel alone, maybe abandoned and rejected. We don’t know what to do or where to go.
     
  • “Four Step Process to Overcome Spiritual Dryness”: by Dave Butts, Harvest Prayer Ministries. Rain is…a metaphor for the pouring out of the Spirit in our lives and churches. When our souls become parched and dry spiritually, we need something to fill them with fresh spiritual vigor. We need rain.