Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God. Prayer begins when we respond to God’s call with openness. In fact, it is God who first calls out to us in prayer, whether we know it or not. The Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 2560 beautifully tells us “Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.” While prayer can be a simple conversation with God, it is fundamental to the Christian life and leads to life changes.

The Life of Prayer

The life of prayer is revealed to us throughout Salvation History. We see this in the Old Testament with Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets. Each demonstrates to us how to pray and how to listen to God. Jesus continues to teach us about prayer and our relationship with God. The Lord’s Prayer is our model of prayer. Jesus taught us how to pray to God as our Father in the present moment and how to order our petitions to Him. In fact, the Lord’s Prayer encompasses everything that can and must be said to the Father. The saints of the Church are also beautiful examples of prayer, as are people in our own lives and parishes.

Prayer is necessary, but it can be difficult. There can be distractions and doubt, periods of spiritual dryness, and fear, but the more we pray and the closer we are to Christ andHis Church, the more we can overcome these difficulties. We all need to seek the voice of the Lord, and the more we tune in to His voice, the easier it will be to hear Him and understand Him.

Types and Forms of Prayer

There are many different types of prayer, which include blessing and adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise. Prayer can also take on different forms, such as vocal, meditative, and contemplative. God wants us to speak to Him about our joys and our sorrows, the good things and the bad, and He wants us to be still and listen, and rest in His presence. In all of these types and forms of prayer, it is above all a loving relationship with God that is being forged.

Mary is a model of faith and charity, an exemplary realization of the Church. She can teach us many lessons about prayer, from how to be receptive to the grace of God to how to be obedient in times of joy and in sorrow. The Rosary is a beautiful prayer to help us meditate on the life of Christ through the intercession of Mary. Many saints have had beautiful devotions to Mary and made it their mission to teach the Church to pray in communion with our Lady.

The liturgy is the official public worship of the Church. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Faith. This means that the Eucharist we receive at Mass is the origin of our Faith and its greatest expression. The celebrations of all the Sacraments are forms of liturgical prayer.

There are many other devotional prayers in the Christian life. The Liturgy of the Hours is a public prayer of the Church in which the clergy and laypeople alike “exercise the royal priesthood of the baptized” (CCC 1174). We can meditate on Scripture, the writings of the saints, and even God’s creation. We can pray the Stations of the Cross and meditate on Christ’s Passion and Death. We can meditate on the whole Gospel by praying the Rosary. We can enter into contemplative prayer, resting in God’s presence allowing Him to direct our thoughts and speak to our hearts. We can contemplate our Lord and be in His presence in Eucharistic Adoration. We can venerate the relics of saints, and go on pilgrimages to holy sites to pray. There are so many ways for us as Christians to pray and encounter God’s love and mercy. In whatever way we find ourselves praying, we should pray with faith and persistence.