Lent Reflection #18: Prayer

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Why is prayer so hard?

Shouldn't it be the easiest thing in the world, if we make it less a ritual, a duty, and more a celebration of communicating with God?

We have put so many restrictions on it:
1. Don't pray about X (some subject, some need, some desire)
2. Pray about everything
3. Pray for certain amounts of time.
4. Pray all the time, without ceasing
5. Pray with others
6. Pray by yourself, in secret
7. Don't ask for anything until you've confessed your sins.
8. Pray by a formula.
9. Don't use formulas.

My head hurts just thinking about it. At my stage of life I've gotten past these rules that may have some indirect basis in Scripture but are really taken out of context. Just talk to God!

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