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How do I pray?God invites us into a relationship with Him that is both personal and communal. He speaks to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Word-made-flesh. Prayer is our response to God who is already speaking or, better yet, revealing Himself to us. Therefore, prayer is not merely an exchange of words, but it engages the whole person in a relationship with God the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit.
Various forms of prayer are presented in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2623-2649). These various forms include prayer of blessing or adoration, prayer of petition, prayer of intercession, prayer of thanksgiving, and prayer of praise.
Saying a prayer, however, is not the same as praying. In order for these words to become true prayer, they must be reflected upon, understood, meant, and the prayer must come from the depths of your soul. Next time you have an opportunity to pray in silence, take one or more of these beautiful prayers and spend time with it. Let it become your own personal prayer and let God speak to you and strengthen you through it.For some helpful links and prayer suggestions from the USCCB, click below.
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What about MEditation?
As Catholics we meditate and engage in mental prayer to be able have an intimate conversation and relationship with God. God is love, and the embodiment of truth.
To know God is to know what love is and to understand truth. The more you know who God is and the better relationship you have with Him, the better you know yourself as you are made in His image and likeness. Mental prayer is about growing in knowledge and admiration of God and in virtue.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that meditation is above all a quest. ”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 ).
There are as many and varied methods of meditation as there are spiritual masters. Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly, lest they come to resemble the three first kinds of soil in the parable of the sower. But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus. Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. . . . Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.
—Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 2707-2708 -
Veneration of Saints
All Christians are called to be saints. Saints are persons in heaven (officially canonized or not), who lived heroically virtuous lives, offered their life for others, or were martyred for the faith, and who are worthy of imitation.
"Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness. . . . They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus . . . . So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped. (CCC 956)
Many popular devotional practices involve the veneration of the saints. The saints have a special place in the Body of Christ, which includes both the living and the dead. Through Christ, we on earth remain in communion both with the saints in heaven and with the dead who are still in Purgatory. We can pray for those in Purgatory and ask the saints to pray for us. Through their prayers of intercession, the saints in heaven play an integral role in the life of the Church on earth. "For after they have been received into their heavenly home and are present to the Lord, through Him and with Him and in Him they do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, showing forth the merits which they won on earth through the one Mediator between God and man." The saints, the members of the Church who have arrived at perfect union with Christ, join their wills to the will of God in praying for those in the Church who are still on their pilgrimage of faith.
The saints are models of human excellence, perfected by the life of Christ and the communication of his Spirit. They demonstrate by their lives how to really live and how to really die. They consistently point to the horizon of love which leads to the fulfillment of all human desire: eternal communion with the Holy Trinity. By our devotion to our heavenly brothers and sisters who have gone before us in Christ, and by their prayers of intercession, fraternal charity is exercised which contributes to the unity of the Church and aids us on our pilgrim journey.
Saint of the Day
Saints Who Were Great Evangelizers