How Do I Pray?
“What is prayer?”
Prayer is the raising of one’s heart and mind to God or the requesting of good things from God (Catholic Catechism 2259). Prayer is considered a two-way process. Catholics pray to God to develop spiritually, and God has the power to answer prayers.
“Do I need to learn lots of different prayer?”
Catholics do have a lot of prayers that are part of our rich tradition, such as The Lord’s Prayer (‘Our Father’) and Hail Mary, plus many more. These prayers can be really helpful to us when we’re not sure what to say but often a simple conversation with God can be just as (if more) meaningful! But there are lots of different styles of prayer – perhaps you can try the Examen… http://chaplaincy.stjulies.org.uk/index.php/daily-examen/
“Chat to God?…really?”
Yes! Absolutely! God is the friend who will never be too busy to listen and wants to have a relationship with us.
God wants to hear about our lives, worries and hopes from us! So talk either out loud or just in your head – God will hear you!
“But HOW?
It may take some practice, but follow the advice of a small, wise green alien from a galaxy far, far away and you may just learn a few things…
Introduction video
1. Being comfortable with silence
2. Being patient
3. Don’t be afraid
4. Be open to possibilities
5. Focus on ‘now’
6. Decide what is important
7. Name your feelings
8. Praying through fear and anger
9. Keep learning
10. Tell others
11. Short prayer counts too
12. Unique in spirit