6. How Should A Christian Pray?

"Lord, teach us to pray." - Luke 11:1

Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God. A Christian must pray because he was made for God, because faith must speak to God, because grace must be asked for, because sin must be repented of, and because the soul cannot remain alive without turning again and again to its Creator and Redeemer.

The catechism answer is simple: A Christian should pray with faith, humility, attention, confidence, perseverance, and submission to God's will.

This answer teaches that prayer is not merely words. It is the soul coming before God in the right spirit.

The question is not first, "Do I feel like praying?" It is not first, "Am I good at prayer?" It is not first, "Do I have beautiful words?" The question is: "Do I turn to God as I ought?"

The disciples asked Christ, "Lord, teach us to pray." That request is the right beginning. Prayer must be learned. A child learns to speak to his father. The Christian learns to speak to God.

The beginner should not be ashamed that prayer feels difficult. He should begin humbly and faithfully.

Prayer raises the mind and heart to God. The mind turns toward God in truth. The heart turns toward God in love, sorrow, desire, thanksgiving, and trust.

Prayer may use words, as in the Our Father, Hail Mary, acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition. Prayer may also be mental, as when the soul thinks about God, the life of Christ, the mysteries of the Rosary, death, judgment, heaven, hell, or the duties of the day.

Prayer is not imagination alone. It is not empty emotion. It is not talking to oneself. It is the soul before God.

Prayer is necessary because man needs God's grace. Christ says, "Ask, and it shall be given you."[1] He also says, "Without me you can do nothing."[2] The soul that does not pray behaves as though it can live without help from God.

Prayer is also necessary because love must speak. A child who never speaks to his father is not living rightly as a child. A Christian who never prays is not living rightly as a child of God.

Prayer keeps faith alive, obtains grace, strengthens against temptation, expresses repentance, gives thanks, and teaches the soul to seek heaven.

A Christian should pray with faith. He must believe that God exists, that God hears, that God is good, and that God can give what is truly needed.

This does not mean that every prayer receives the exact answer the soul first wanted. God is Father, not servant. He knows what is good better than we do. Faith trusts His wisdom even when His answer is delayed, hidden, or different from what was imagined.

Prayer without faith becomes empty sound. Faith gives prayer its direction because the soul knows whom it is addressing.

A Christian should pray with humility. He comes before God as a creature, sinner, child, and beggar. He does not command God. He does not pretend to deserve grace by his own greatness. He asks because God is merciful.

Humility is especially necessary in repentance. The publican prayed, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner," and Christ praised him rather than the proud Pharisee.[3]

The beginner should learn to pray without pretending. God already knows the soul. It is better to say honestly, "Lord, I am weak; help me," than to speak pious words while hiding from repentance.

A Christian should pray with attention. This means he should try to know what he is saying and to whom he is speaking. Distractions may come without fault. The soul should gently return to God when it notices them.

Attention matters because prayer is not a charm or mechanical sound. The Our Father should be prayed as a real address to God. The Hail Mary should be prayed as real honor to Our Lady and a real request for her intercession. Acts of contrition should express real sorrow for sin.

Beginners should pray slowly enough to mean the words. Better a shorter prayer said with reverence than many words rushed without care.

A Christian should pray with confidence because God is good and Christ has commanded us to ask. Confidence is not presumption. Presumption expects God's gifts while refusing repentance and obedience. True confidence trusts God's mercy and therefore turns toward Him.

The soul should ask for necessary graces boldly: faith, repentance, purity, perseverance, forgiveness, protection from mortal sin, a good confession, a holy death, and the salvation of souls.

Our Lady should also be invoked with filial confidence. She is Mother, not a distant figure kept at the edge of Catholic life. The Hail Mary teaches the soul to ask her prayers "now and at the hour of our death."

A Christian should pray with perseverance. Christ teaches the need to keep asking, seeking, and knocking.[4] Many souls begin to pray and then stop when feeling fades. This is dangerous.

Perseverance means continuing to pray when prayer is dry, when duties are heavy, when temptations return, and when answers are not immediate. Prayer is not measured by sweetness alone. Fidelity often grows in dryness.

This is why set prayers help beginners. A morning offering, night prayer, Rosary, examination of conscience, and acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition give prayer a stable form even when the soul feels little.

A Christian should pray with submission to God's will. Christ Himself prayed in Gethsemane: "Not my will, but thine be done."[5]

This does not make prayer weak. It makes prayer obedient. The Christian may ask for healing, help, protection, work, conversions, relief from suffering, and many other goods. But he must always place his desire beneath God's wisdom.

Submission to God's will protects the soul from bitterness. If God delays, refuses, or gives another path, the soul remains a child rather than becoming a judge over God.

A beginner should learn the basic prayers of Catholic life:

• the Sign of the Cross;
• the Our Father;
• the Hail Mary;
• the Glory Be;
• the Apostles' Creed;
• acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition;
• morning offering;
• night prayer;
• examination of conscience;
• the Rosary.

These prayers are not childish. They are the ordinary language of Catholic life. A soul that knows them has a foundation for daily prayer, family prayer, confession, devotion, and preparation for death.

For the prayers themselves, see Basic Catholic Prayers.

Every Christian should learn to begin and end the day with God. In the morning, he should offer the day to God, ask for grace, and resolve to avoid sin. At night, he should thank God, examine his conscience, repent of sins, and ask protection through the night.

This simple rule gives order to the day. The morning belongs to God before the world claims the mind. The night returns the day to God before sleep.

Parents should teach children this early. A home without prayer will be formed by other voices. A home with steady prayer becomes more capable of grace.

Prayer does not replace the sacraments. A Catholic should not say, "I pray privately," while neglecting Baptism, confession, the Mass, or the duties of the Church.

The sacraments do not excuse prayerlessness either. A person who receives sacraments without prayer becomes dull and careless. Sacramental life and prayer belong together.

Before confession, the soul should pray for sorrow and honesty. Before Holy Communion, where one can receive worthily, the soul should pray for faith, reverence, and love. After receiving grace, the soul should give thanks.

The soul must learn that prayer is necessary. A Christian cannot live on natural strength.

The soul must learn to pray with faith, humility, attention, confidence, perseverance, and submission to God's will.

The soul must learn basic Catholic prayers and use them daily.

The soul must learn that prayer is not the same as feeling. Dryness does not excuse abandonment.

The soul must learn to join prayer to repentance, duty, sacraments, and charity.

A Christian should pray with faith, humility, attention, confidence, perseverance, and submission to God's will.

A beginner should ask: Do I pray every day? Do I know the basic Catholic prayers? Do I pray when I do not feel like praying? Do I ask for grace to avoid sin? Do I submit my desires to God's will?

Prayer is one of the first duties and consolations of the Christian life. The soul that prays remains turned toward God. The soul that stops praying begins to drift.