Prayer is not just for Lent or Advent; it should be a way of life. Ordinary time is the perfect season to develop a consistent prayer life because prayer should happen in ordinary circumstances. But how do we do it, how do we build a life of prayer? This new series will walk through some common themes of prayer and give practical steps to begin praying faithfully, fruitfully, and deeply.
Prayer is not just a part of your relationship with God, prayer IS your relationship with God. Prayer is a place of loving encounter with your creator. On our part, prayer is raising of the mind and heart to God, but prayer is principally a gift from God. “We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings” (Romans 8:26). We should long to come to God in prayer because He longs to come to us. “Prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him” (CCC,2560). Prayer is an invitation into the life of the triune God, the love that is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We should not be afraid to come to such a loving God in prayer. Prayer can sometimes feel intimidating, if we are not sure how to begin or how to do it right. But God says, “Do not be afraid.” The wrong way to pray is not praying. So, start by taking some time of silence and just ask the Lord to introduce himself. Wait in patience. Let go of your fears or expectations. Come to Him with an open heart and He will come to you.
Often in scripture Jesus would go off by himself, usually to a deserted place, and pray to his Father. In the midst of healing and teaching, Jesus made time for prayer and so set us a model. Making a habit of prayer is like any other habit, you need a plan. If you want to get into a habit of exercise, you can’t just say, “I will start exercising.” You need to think of a time and a place to exercise and what exercise you will do and then do it. The same thing is true with prayer. You need a set time and place to pray and know what you are praying (ex. rosary, prayer with scripture, daily devotional, etc.).
Place: Find a space you can pray in. It can be a church or chapel, but it need not be. It can be a place in your home or outside in a park, but it should be quiet and free from distractions. You should feel comfortable and at ease in this space.
Time: Think of your day. When during your day will you be most able to pray, to listen to God’s voice. This might be first thing in the morning, or it could be near the end of the day. Find what works for you. Commit to a set time and duration (daily 10-15 minutes, weekly 1 hour). You want to be consistent but don’t be rigid (don’t worry if you miss a day, just start again the next day). Before each period of prayer, take a moment to transition from everyday life and into prayer. At the end of prayer, take a moment to transition out of prayer.
Content: In the following weeks, we will give more detail to the content of prayer, but for now pray for God to open your heart to prayer. When a child learns to walk, their father holds them up and walks with them. The same is true in prayer. Our Father will teach you how to talk to him. A good starting place is to pray with the daily Gospel reading.
The Catechism identifies three expressions of prayer: Vocal Prayer, Meditation and Contemplation. This week we will focus on Vocal Prayer, which is simply talking to God. This is the expression of prayer that comes most naturally. We call out to God in words. “Through his Word, God speaks to man. By words, mental or vocal, our prayer takes flesh” (CCC, 2700). But our words cannot just be lip service. The exterior expression of our words in prayer must reflect the interior reality of our hearts. Scripture says Moses spoke to God, “as a man speaks to his friends” (Exodus 33:11). Like any other friendship our friendship with God requires this open and intimate conversation.
To begin a practice of vocal prayer, choose any one of the psalms for your time of prayer. Pray the psalm out loud. Repeat the psalm several times until you can close your eyes and continue praying the psalm. Eventually allow your own words to take over the prayer. The goal is not to memorize the psalm but to allow the psalm to lead you into your own vocal prayer in your own words.
The Catechism identifies three expressions of prayer: Vocal Prayer, Meditation and Contemplation. This week we will focus on meditation, which is thinking about God and reflecting on the truths of the faith. “The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking.” (CCC, 2705). Meditation engages the mind and imagination. It is not a cold intellectual pursuit or an academic study, but a deeper engagement with the truth, so that we can live in the truth. “We pass from thoughts to reality. To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart” (CCC, 2706). We can find help for meditation in books, such as the writings of spiritual fathers, works of spirituality, and preeminently the Sacred Scriptures, particularly the Gospels.
There are many methods of meditation, most popular being Lectio Divina and the rosary. Find a method that works for you. Here are two ways to begin a meditation. (These are suggestions, remember find what is best for you.)
Start with a Scripture: Choose a passage of scripture (best to start in the Gospels) and as you read through it pause at the words and phrases that make you think. Stay with those words and like Mary “ponder them in your heart” (Luke 2:19). What questions and ideas come into your mind and heart? Reflect on them and listen for God’s voice.
Start with a Question: You can also start with a question about the faith. Maybe you want to better understand the Incarnation. Ask yourself, “What does it mean that God became human? What does it mean for me?” Then go to a Scripture like the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38) and reflect on this mystery. (Works of spirituality and catechesis can help you prepare for a meditation on these questions.)
The Catechism identifies three expressions of prayer: Vocal Prayer, Meditation and Contemplation. This week we will focus on contemplation or contemplative prayer. If vocal prayer is speaking with God and meditation is thinking about God, contemplation is simply being with God. Remember prayer is our relationship with God, it is like a deep friendship or a romance. Lovers begin by talking with one another, then they think about each other all the time, finally they desire to simply be in each other’s presence. St. Teresa of Avila says, “Contemplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us” (CCC, 2709). Contemplative prayer is quiet and simple; focused on the person of Jesus and through him the Father. “It is a gaze of faith fixed on Jesus, an attentiveness to the Word of God, a silent love. It achieves real union with the prayer of Christ to the extent that it makes us share in his mystery.” (CCC, 2724).
Contemplative prayer is truly a gift of grace and can only be received. In contemplative prayer, all we do is receive God’s love. We cannot and should not force contemplative prayer, but what we can do is prepare to receive this gift. While in meditation, you might experience a moment of greater peace where you find yourself not thinking or reflecting much but just being present to the Lord. In those moments, don’t feel like you need to do anything. Just stay with the Lord. If distracting thoughts arise don’t force them away, just let them pass and stay with the Lord. Receive this grace as long as it is given and when it passes return to meditation.
Over the last few weeks, we have reviewed the three expressions of prayer: vocal, meditation, and contemplation. Now we turn to the forms of prayer. The expressions of prayer are how one prays; the forms of prayer are the different types of prayer. This week we will look at two forms of prayer: Petition and Intersession.
Petition is asking God for what we need. It is the type of prayer we are most familiar with because it is the most spontaneous. When we come to God with our needs, we express that we are creatures who receive everything from our loving Creator and that we are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. We must always begin by asking for forgiveness, because we need God’s mercy to restore our broken relationship before we can ask for anything else. “When we share in God's saving love, we understand that every need can become the object of petition” (CCC, 2633).
Intersession is a prayer of petition on behalf of another. By interceding for others in prayer, we are acting like Christ who intercedes for all before the Father. “In intercession, he who prays looks ‘not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others,’ even to the point of praying for those who do him harm” (CCC, 2635).
Most of us do not need to practice asking God for our needs. What we struggle with is accepting the Lord’s will in our lives and waiting patiently for him to respond to our prayers. When we bring our needs to God, we must practice detachment. Detachment is not indifference, but spiritual freedom. We do not hold onto the things we want or what we think we need but open our hands to receive whatever the Lord wants to give. It is an act of trust that our Father loves us and wants to give the best to us. He wants us to come to him like little children asking for everything and trusting he can provide. So, whenever you pray a prayer of petition or intersession make your needs known, but always end the prayer with, “not my will but yours be done” (Matt 26:39) and ask for the grace to truly want the Lord’s will.
We are reviewing the Forms of Prayer, the different kinds of prayer. This week we will look at two forms of prayer: Thanksgiving and Praise.
Thanksgiving is acknowledging the Lord for all the good He has done. God is the source of all goodness, “everything we are and have comes from him: ‘What have you that you did not receive?’” (CCC, 224; 1 Cor 4:7). In every moment, we can find reasons to give thanks to the Lord. That is why St. Paul says, “Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thes 5:18). The central prayer of the Church the Eucharist is a prayer of thanksgiving (Eucharist in Greek means thanksgiving). In the Eucharist, the Church joins Christ, her head, in his prayer of thanksgiving and becomes more fully herself (CCC, 2637).
Praise is acknowledging God for his own sake. “Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because HE IS.” (CCC, 2639). In praise we adore God’s infinite goodness not for any selfish motivations, but simply because he is good.
Thankfulness and praise are recognizing the goodness of God. The difficulty comes when we easily forget who God is and all he has done for us. To cultivate a prayer of thanksgiving, stop and think about one thing you are thankful for today, then think about everything God did to bring that thing into your life. Then reflect on how the God of infinite majesty and glory spent all that time simply bringing that one thing into your life today. The God of the vast universe cares so much about you, a speck living on a small speck of a planet, to make sure to bring you a blessing each day. Let the awe of God’s overwhelming love lead you into praise.