Using Prayer as a Way of Reducing Stress

Editor of Catholic Rebuttals, Reece Theriot, was asked to guest star on a Dale Carnegie podcast. The subject of the discussion was prayer; reducing stress through prayer. Although Dale Carnegie was a successful businessman, he felt as though prayer was the most powerful way to lead a stress-free and productive life. If you would like to listen to the original podcast, click the button below:

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Studies Showing Prayer Reduces Stress:

J. K. Fergerson: Centering Prayer as a Healing Response to Everyday Stress: A Psychological and Spiritual Process

Czech & Burke, in press; Czech et al., 2004; Park, 2000; Vernacchia et al., 2000: “Athletes utilized religious prayer in sport for three main reasons: coping with uncertainties and the concomitant anxiety, putting life and sport into perspective, and providing meaning to sports participation and competition.”

Jessie Dezutter 2011, Prayer and pain: the mediating role of positive re-appraisal:
“for this group of religious affiliated patients high levels of prayer were also related with more pain tolerance. These findings might indicate that prayer can be a useful factor in pain management but only for pain patients who are religious. It seems that prayer has to be incorporated in the religious meaning system of the patient before it can function as a tool in pain management”

Quotes About Prayer:
“A person’s prayer often keeps with his moral life. The closer our behavior corresponds to divine will, the easier it is to pray; the more our conduct is out of joint with Divinity, the harder it is to pray” Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one” Bruce Lee
“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.” Abraham Lincoln
“The wise man in the storm prays God not for safety from danger but for deliverance from fear.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“We should seek not so much to pray but to become prayer.” Francis of Assisi

Quotes about Restlessness and Stress: 
“Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until we rest in thee.” St. Augustine
“Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28 -30  
“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”  Isaiah 26:3
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus”  Philippians 4:7