(d) Distractions occur during prayer. Hence, an interruption is not a distraction, as when one who is praying is called to attend to some business or leaves off prayer for the moment to make a note of some important thought that came to mind. Neither is the breaking off of prayer a distraction, as when one starts to pray but feels so distracted or unwell as to give over for the time being the attempt to pray.
2171. Voluntary and Involuntary Distractions.—(a) Voluntary distractions result in the first place from purpose, as when one who is praying deliberately dozes at intervals when he feels drowsy, or deliberately turns over in his mind the points of an address he intends to give; they result in the second place from negligence, as when the person who is praying does not expressly wish to be inattentive, but hurries through his words with no pains to keep his thoughts on what he is doing or why he is doing it. Those who rarely speak or read about divine things, but give themselves much to foolish reading or talk, prepare for themselves many distractions, unless they counteract this by special aids to recollection, such as pictures or prayer books.
(b) Involuntary distractions are those that result neither from purpose nor from carelessness, but from human weakness. Thus, a person who is troubled with scruples or with a severe headache or nervous strain, who is worn out bodily or much worried mentally, or who is surrounded by noise or disturbance, is often physically unable to concentrate his mind for any length of time, no matter how much he may desire to do so. Indeed, St. Thomas says that it is hardly possible for anyone to say an Our Father without some distraction, and many persons are distracted against their will by every slight sound or movement that falls under their notice.
2772. Sinfulness of Distraction in Prayer.—(a) Involuntary distractions are not sinful, since one is not bound to the impossible. Hence, a penitent who has nothing except these distractions to confess may not be absolved, since there is no matter for absolution in his confession.
(b) Voluntary distractions are sinful, since, though one is free to address God at any time, one is bound to do this in a respectful manner and in spirit and in truth, as God requires. Communion with God is by means of the mind, and it is disrespectful to turn the mind away to other things when the communion has been sought. Besides, lip service is displeasing to God, just as burnt offerings were not acceptable when made without love. But the sin is of its nature only venial; for the intention to pray, together with the essential moral goodness of the act, is retained, and the defect consists in the circumstance that the intention is executed remissly (see 78).
2173. When is voluntary distraction a grave and when a venial sin? (a) It is a venial sin when one says a non-obligatory prayer, even with the express will to be inattentive, and also when one says an obligatory prayer (such as the Divine Office) with distractions due to carelessness, but without abandonment of the intention to pray. (b) It is a mortal sin when one indulges in distractions from contempt, and also when one says an obligatory prayer with distractions that last during a notable part of the prayer and that are deliberately entertained.
2174. Distractions during Divine Office are the absence of the attention which the Church requires under grave sin for satisfaction of the canonical obligation. There are two opinions about the kind of distractions that make recitation insufficient and gravely sinful.
(a) According to the older opinion, internal attention is required, but it seems that generally those who maintain this view do not hold that internal distractions alone deprive the Office of its sufficiency. Thus, they state that one who has had voluntary distractions may consider that he has fulfilled his duty, unless he is certain that he also adverted to his state of distraction and did nothing to end it.
(b) According to the opinion of many modern authors, external attention suffices. Hence, in this view mortal sin is incurred by notable defect in external, but not in internal attention.
2175. The External Acts of Religion.—We proceed now to those acts of religion which are performed in an outward manner. But it should be noted that just as devotion and prayer find external expression (as in vocal prayer), so the external acts of religion should proceed from internal devotion. The outward religious acts may be classified under three groups: (a) the acts in which one offers one’s body as a mark of veneration to God (adoration); (b) the acts in which one offers external goods, whether given (sacrifices, offerings, first-fruits, tithes) or promised (vows); (c) the acts in which one makes use of divine things to honor God (Sacraments, oaths, adjuration, praises).