Set Out to Pray. He Will Take It from There.

If you find yourself restless and distracted, advice from a Carmelite, Sr. Ruth Burrows, via the indispensable Magnificat:

I do not think readers would want to be bored to tears by an account of what goes on in my head during prayer! Distractions are my unfailing companions at prayer; but I have learned that prayer doesn’t go on in the head, in the brain-box, but in that secret heart that is choosing to pray and to remain in prayer no matter what it feels like or seem like to me. I am totally convinced that our God, the God we see in Jesus, is all-love, all-compassion and, what is more, is all-gift; is always offering God’s own Self as our perfect fulfillment. I believe, through Jesus, that we were made for this and that it is divine Love’s passion to bring it to perfect fulfillment in us. So when I set myself to pray I am basing myself on this faith and refuse to let it go. I just take it for granted that, because God is the God of Jesus, all-love, who fulfills every promise, this work of love is going on, purifying and gradually transforming me. What I actually experience on my conscious level is quite unimportant. In fact, I experience nothing except my poor, distracted self.