How to Pray Without Ceasing

Thank you for supporting our small business, we hope you love your coffee! 

While we are thrilled that you chose Religious Roast to start your mornings with prayer, we want to remind you that our coffee and a morning offering is NOT a substitute for genuine devotion. The morning offering on the bag is meant to help you start offering your day to God and lead into a deeper time of prayer. 

 

We desire for each and every one of our customers to follow the "little way" of allowing God to work through you in all things and recognizing His presence in all of reality as well as continue on the "way of perfection" of doing everything from pure love of God and striving with all your heart towards perfection in this life and the next. This means that we must at all times "pray without ceasing" and see all as a gift from the Lord. 


In order to pray at all times, we must first pray for a time. To help grow this life of ceaseless prayer, we have attached a simple morning offering to pray while your coffee brews and to ask for particular virtues of your favorite saint. Through the intercession of the saints and by beginning your day (or afternoon) with an offering of yourself to God, it is our sincere hope that you will be inspired to take some time to have a deep and intimate conversation with God through prayer. 

  

But how do we continue to talk to God throughout our day? This is done through constantly being aware of His presence in all things, and seeing all as a gift from Him. However, this doesn't mean you need to be constantly saying things to Him all the time. After you have grown to know and love Him more and more, ceaseless prayer becomes like an "interior smile" where you are aware of a grateful for His presence at all times. It's like when you go on a log road trip with someone you love very much, if there is a time of silence, you aren't worried that you're not talking, but you are simply glad of their presence and are so intimately united with them that you don't have to say a thing to be in dialogue with them. 

 

This can only come about though through spending time with God in prayer and getting to know His voice. This can best be heard in Scripture, and other great spiritual reads can also help you hear the voice of God in your life more clearly! Meditating on Scripture or spiritual reading or is a great way to start your time of prayer, and then move into a deeper friendship with God. 


If you're in need of some ideas of how to grow + continue your morning prayer routine, our favorite ways to pray are: 


1. Reading and praying with the Daily Readings (you can find these on the UCCSB website or if you get the iBreviary app). 


2. Pray with scripture through Lectio Divina and meditate on how the Lord is leading you through His word. 


3. Pray with any spiritual read by a Saint or a good theologian (they are all good and there are so many options!). A great one to start with is Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis deSales. Some of our other favorites include: 

  • A Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux
  • The Soul of the Apolstolate by Jean-Baptiste Chautard
  • The Fulfilment of All Desire by Dr. Ralph Martin
  • Into His Likeness by Dr. Edward Sri
  • The World's First Love by Venerable Fulton Sheen. 


Or check out our Instagram blog (@littlewayofperfection) where we share more tips + ideas to grow on this journey of the Little Way of Perfection!