Prayer is not from the mind but the heart, love and spirituality the same. Faith is not action of the body or the mind but a personal relationship with our Lord.
Commercials are jarring as it comes on just priest about to make a profound point. It undermines the confessional quality of trying to find the right attitude..
If you can't retain the material you're reading, you're reading too much material. Pick one piece to learn off by heart, or read only that for a month.