Of the Patriarch Enoch, Sacred Scripture tells us that he always walked in the presence of God, that he had him present in his joys, in his fatigues and in his labors. "Would that something similar could happen to us, would that we could walk in these worlds with God at our side! So close to Him, so vividly feeling His presence, that we would share everything with Him. We would then receive everything from His hand, every ray of sunshine, every shadow of uncertainty that passes through our lives; we would accept with conscious gratitude whatever He sends us, thus obeying the slightest breath of His call." Often, however, the true center of reference is unfortunately not the Lord, but ourselves. Hence the need for this continuous effort to be immersed in God, "attentive" to his slightest insinuations, avoiding being absorbed in our own things; in any case, keeping them in mind insofar as they refer to God: because we do good with them, because we have offered them....
Vocal prayers are a great way to keep God present in our daily chores. For that it is necessary to pay attention to what we say to the Lord. And we will have to struggle sometimes in very small but necessary details: in pronouncing clearly, with pause, in fleeing from routine. There must also be time for consideration, so that it becomes, in a certain way, a true mental prayer, even if we cannot completely avoid distractions.
Without a special grace from God it is not possible to maintain a continuous and perfect attention to the sense and meaning of the words. At times, the attention will be particularly referred to the manner in which they are pronounced; at other times it will be directed to the person to whom they are spoken. But there are times when, because of personal or environmental circumstances, none of these three forms of attention can be conveniently given. It is then necessary to pay at least some external care, which consists in rejecting any external activity that by its very nature impedes interior attention. Some manual work, for example, does not prevent us from having our minds on something else; like the mother of a family, who prays the Rosary at home while she cleans or while she is more or less attentive to her small children, even if she is distracted at some point, at least maintains this interior attention, something that would not be possible if she wanted to watch television at the same time. In any case, we should organize our life plan in such a way that, whenever possible, the time we dedicate to some vocal prayers such as the Angelus or the Rosary is a time in which we can concentrate well. On the other hand, simple involuntary distractions are imperfections that the Lord excuses when he sees us making the effort to pray.
Along with vocal prayers, the soul needs the daily nourishment of mental prayer. "Thanks to these moments of meditation, to vocal prayers, to ejaculatory prayers, we will know how to turn our day, naturally and without show, into a continuous praise of God. We will keep ourselves in his presence, as lovers continually direct their thoughts to the person they love, and all our actions, even the smallest ones, will be filled with spiritual efficacy. The Lord will look upon them with favor and bless them.