Dear Parishioners,

Let’s talk about prayer. According to the Catechism, Prayer is “the raising of one’s mind and heart to God, or the petition of good things from Him in accord with His will.” (CCC 2559) Everyone has to pray because we are all called to be in a relationship with God. In fact, it’s what we yearn for whether or not we realize it. Prayer is not just for religious sisters and priests or grandmothers. God is speaking to all of us all the time. But, most of the time, we are so preoccupied with worldly pursuits, we forget that we are primarily sons and daughters of God. God wants to speak to your heart and He wants to do it right now.

From my pastoral experience, I think many people have a lot of trouble praying. It can be awkward to not know what to do and what to say. Often, praying can feel like doing nothing and speaking to no one. I think the set prayers of the Church are a good help to begin learning how to pray. When in doubt, someone can pray as Our Lord taught us with an Our Father. Or, ask the Blessed Virgin Mary’s help with a Hail Mary. And if someone can do that, then someone could pray a Rosary or a Divine Mercy Chaplet. If someone looks at the back of our pew missal in the pews, one can find a number of great prayers from our tradition. The point is to really focus on the words and to ask God to make them your own words to Him. These kind of prayers are like a crutch to someone with a broken leg. We can often be spiritually paralyzed and need a little help.

What is even better than set prayer, though, is mental prayer. Mental Prayer is when someone thinks about the things of God, usually on sacred scripture. I can write a whole article about different forms of mental prayer. (And I probably will.) But, basic steps are to find something to focus on, whether it be a spiritual writing, scripture or just something you’re worried about and thankful for. Then, to ask God to enter your heart and to guide your thoughts. This is very important since prayer is primarily God speaking to us rather than us trying to control the conversation. We might find when we quiet ourselves down and try to see things from God’s point of view that we come to very different conclusions than what we expected. I have found this has been the only way scripture has come alive to me and it makes it all the more personal.

So, in the end, how do we know if we’re growing in prayer? Well, ask yourself, are you growing in charity? Prayer does not happen in a vacuum but should affect the way you live your life. That’s why it is important to make resolutions after you pray. These can be things like promising to be more charitable to someone or to avoid something sinful. We are physical beings living in the world, not pure spirits. Our prayer should be our life and that is exactly why prayer is so necessary: without it we are unable to live a Christian life. It is when we let our prayer affect our lives that it becomes real and people can see the glory of God.

God bless!

Father Carter