A little more on distracted prayer.  One of the most helpful things I ever learned about dealing with distractions in prayer was that it’s not something you necessarily need to repent of and it’s not an indication of “good” or “bad” prayer.  Distractions will come; it’s impossible (and not healthy) to turn our minds completely off.  The important thing is what we do with them.  If we peacefully resist them, we do not sin.  I stress “peacefully”, because if we get agitated about them, it can allow the devil an entrance.  St. Francis de Sales once wisely said: “Our very care not to have distractions often serves as a very great distraction.”  The best thing to do is peacefully turn from them when we become aware of them.  Fr. Thomas Green, author of When the Well Runs Dry, advises relating to them as you would to noisy children who are trying to interrupt a conversation you are having with another adult: reprimand them as needed, but sometimes you just need to relate to them as background noise and ignore them, doing your best to stay focussed on the One you’re talking to. You moms out there surely have a lot of experience at doing that!