Curious results of Catholic prayer

Despite my early education at ACS Ipoh in the 50s and 60s I never had any interest in prayer despite exposure to Christian beliefs and practices including first 'subject' Friday chapel service.. Not even after I joined the local Catholic church in 2005.

Here's what I wrote about the first occasion that I tried doing so.

Siok, septuagenarian retired teacher of English admonished, "You ought to be practising your adopted faith now that you're a Catholic:: go to Mass regularly. After all it's one of the Sacraments."

She's right of course, having spent her formative years in Main Convent, Ipoh though she says she's now Buddhist in outlook while keeping a photo of Satya Sai Baba perched on a sideboard in her kitchen. Talk about having an eclectic faith, perhaps she's hedging her bets? :-)

Be that as it may, she also drew my attention to the Memorare (with the accented last syllable), claiming in the Cantonese vernacular that it's "ho lang", meaning that it's most efficacious. And just the other day she told me of a prayer to St Anthony that could help one locate lost things.

And so, out of a need for a change perhaps, I went on a prayer junket. Wow! The results were quite unexpected.

I found myself giggling and laughing out loud every now and then for no apparent reason: it was as if someone had just told a terrifically funny joke that I'd never heard before. Can you beat that?

When I thought about it, I think I was responding to the language employed ty the authors, especially the beautifully crafted Memorare, with a great 'story arc' as Alex might put it:

Remember, Most Gracious Virgin Mary,

that never was it known that anyone who fled to Your protection,

implored Your help or sought Your intercession,

was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence,

I fly to You, Virgin of Virgins, my Mother;

to You I come, before You I stand, sinful and sorrowful.

Mother of the Word Incarnate,

despise not my petitions,

but in Your mercy, hear and answer me.

Amen.

Perhaps my otherworldly outlook on life may have something to do with it? Shall I then make specific requests as any other Christian might and wait for their materialization?

Seth as channeled by writer and trance medium Jane Roberts in the 60s through 80s suggested that "Prayer is its own answer". What do you think?