Can I pray while driving? Can I, for example, access the Heralds’ channel and pray the Rosary when I am behind the wheel?
João Carlos Alvim – São Paulo
To adequately answer this question, we need to remember what prayer is. The Catechism of the Catholic Church adopts the classic definition: “Lifting up the mind toward God” (CCC 2098).
But when is it that we raise our minds to God?
Jesus tells us in the Gospel that we “ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Lk 18:1). Therefore, one can never pray too much, as long as the duties of one’s state in life are not thereby neglected.
Pope Benedict XVI stated in an audience on May 11, 2011: “And man knows, in a certain way, that he can turn to God; he knows he can pray to Him.
St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest theologians of history, defines prayer as ‘an expression of man’s desire for God.’”
So, concretely, can we pray while driving?
Yes, without any doubt whatsoever. Can we pray a Rosary while traveling, following, for example, the Heralds’ channel? Of course we can!
But be careful! Prayer is a very important act. Praying while commuting does not exempt one from the duty of setting aside time specifically for God.
Prayer that is said while engaged in some activity should be the expression of a heart that is eager to sanctify every moment of the day. It can also arise from the contingency of someone being overly busy with work, but who does not want to neglect praying the Rosary. That is wonderful!
But prayer said in a church will normally have much greater value. This is what St. John Chrysostom says, and his words can also be applied to prayers recited outside the home, for example, in the car:
“Although you can indeed pray in your home, you will not know how to pray there as you do in church […]. When you invoke the Lord in private, you are not as well heard as when you do so in the company of your brothers. There is something more in church: the union of spirits and voices, the bond of charity, the prayers of the priests” (Sur l’incompréhensibilité de Dieu. Homélie 3: SC 28bis, 219).
When we sin, specifically through carnality, does an evil angel enter into the temptation, inciting us to think about it?
Héctor Caro Nieto – Via e-mail
This question was once posed, almost in the same words, to Msgr. João during one of his catechism classes. And our founder responded as follows:
In principle, a temptation can come exclusively from the lust of the flesh, that is, from fallen human nature due to sin. But he added, while expressing agreement with this theory, that many teachers of the spiritual life affirm that the devil’s action enters into all temptations.
Now, this position is perfectly supported by Catholic doctrine, as we can see in the Catechism: “By our first parents’ sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free.
Original sin entails ‘captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil’” (CCC 407).
The fight against temptation will, therefore, always be a clash with the devil: “For a monumental struggle against the powers of darkness pervades the whole history of man. […] Caught in this conflict, man is obliged to wrestle constantly if he is to cling to what is good” (SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Gaudium et spes, no. 37).
But we cannot forget that, without the help of God’s grace, the practice chastity is impossible. To achieve this, it is necessary to pray and frequent the Sacraments.
St. Augustine expressed it in incomparable words:
“As regards continency, I imagined it to be under the control of our own strength (though in myself I found it not) […]. You would give it, if with heartfelt groaning I should knock at Your ears, and should with firm faith cast my care upon You” (Confessions, L.VI, c.11, no. 20).
