Good Morning!
“Have You Prayed Today?”. It’s one of the three questions for Examining Yourself from the book “How to Make Great Decisions”. (You can find the blog post discussing the book as a whole here). Your answer may be yes or it may be no. But either way, prayer is an essential part of becoming the person God made you to be. My last post Reconciliation: Not Just a Confession talked about the question “Are You in a State of Grace?”. We looked at what that meant, why it was important, and being able to answer “yes”. Today we will do something very similar with this new question. My hope is that by the end you will have everything you need to start giving another “yes” every day.
What is Prayer?
In short, Prayer is anything that connects us to God. Prayer involves two things: an awareness and a response. First is an awareness: we need to first be aware that God is present to us. Always. Otherwise, there would be nothing to connect to. The second part is a response: how do we respond to the presence of God?
Why Pray?
Prayer takes effort, so before asking you to put in that work I think we should start by figuring out our why. Why be aware of God? Why bother giving a response? There are about a million reasons to do so, but I’ll just list a few.
- Love– God Loves us in a way beyond human comprehension. Prayer allows us to experience and live in this love.
- Stability– So much of life and the world around us is constantly changing. The one thing that will never change is God’s presence and love for us. Prayer allows us to have something we can always turn to.
- Direction– There are millions of decisions we have to make within our lifetime. Prayer allows us to communicate with the one Being who knows it all.
- Focus– Distractions are everywhere. Sometimes we can become so wrapped up in something that we do not even realize how futile it is. Prayer reminds us of what is truly important.
- Understanding– The world is full of mysteries. Within nature, within ourselves, and within the world around us. Prayer allows us to discover and investigate the things we do not yet comprehend.
If you’re still not convinced, do a quick google search of the benefits of prayer. I promise you won’t be disappointed 🙂
Types of Prayer:
There are four main types of prayer within the Catholic church. They aren’t necessarily how to pray -that’s in the next section- but they’re essentially the intention of the prayer.
- Praise– acknowledging (and sometimes remind ourselves) of God’s greatness and power.
- Petition– asking God for the things we need. Sometimes it’s a certain blessing or virtue, sometimes it’s forgiveness for our sins.
- Intercesion– asking God for the needs of others (praying for other people)
- Thanksgiving– no turkeys (usually) but acknowledging what God has done and being grateful for it. Essentially gratitude- which has also proven to have amazing benefits.
Sometimes a single prayer time or experience can encompass more than one of these. Sometimes multiple prayer times/experiences will focus on only one. Both are good because both are praying 🙂
How to Pray:
Although there are many ways to pray, most of them fit into three main categories:
- Vocal Prayer– This is what we usually think of when we think of “praying” it’s anything that interacts with the physical world around you. It could be reciting prayers, singing, writing, coloring, fasting, etc.
- Meditative Prayer– This way of praying happens mostly in your mind but is based on something specific. It is thinking about something specific and exploring it. Examples include Lectio Devino (reading scripture), the rosary, guided meditations, listening to a song, etc.
- Contemplative Prayer– Perhaps the most difficult to explain, this form of prayer is essentially a state of being. It is to simply be with God. St Theresa says it is like “a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us”. Examples include adoration, going for a walk, sitting in silence, etc.
When to Pray:
The Short answer: always. In fact, we are called to “pray without ceasing” but that can seem a bit daunting. But, it doesn’t seem so impossible when you realize the secret to prayer (found in the next section) but first I’ll give a few simple times that you can begin praying:
- Before you eat
- When you wake up
- When you go to sleep
- During your shower or bath
- Amidst difficulties
- On your commute
- When you are doing what you love
Okay, there are many many more times to pray but I’ll leave the list at that. You won’t need a list once you know this secret:
The Secret to Prayer:
All prayer is, is being intentional. So long as you are doing something with the intention of connecting with and growing closer to God, it is a prayer. It could be taking out the trash, buying Dunkin, making dinner, going to class, ALL OF IT. It can all become a prayer. You may be thinking how on earth does buying dunkin bring me closer to God? And my answer to you is this: God has brought us to this stage of life. Each stage of life comes with roles and each role comes with Daily Duties. God also placed in our hearts desires and joys which he delights in (so long as they are not against His will). If buying Dunking brings us joy or is a part of fulfilling our Daily Duties, doing it gives glory to God. All we have to do is be intentional.
What next?
So that’s it. Being able to answer “yes” to “have you prayed today” is possible. Every. Single. Day. Even when we don’t think we have time. All it takes is intention. I hope this post was helpful! Stay tuned for next week’s post where we’ll discuss the final question in examining ourselves “Am I Doing My Daily Duties?”. As always, if you have questions or want to chat feel free to leave a comment, visit my connect page, or reachout to me on instagram. I hope to hear from you soon! Until then, keep praying and remember that you are undeniably loved ♡
If you’re interested in reading Father Mike’s Book “How to Make Great Decisions” you can order it here and I will get a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you!
-me
