Just Pray

OPENING PRAYER

Lenten Prayer for Transformation

Loving Father,
I invite you into my life today
and make myself available to you.
Help me to become the-best-version-of-myself
by seeking your will and becoming a living example
of your love in the world.
Open my heart to the areas of my life that need to change
in order for me to carry out the mission and experience
the joy you have imagined for my life.
Inspire me to live the Catholic faith
in ways that are dynamic and engaging.
Show me how to best get involved in the life of my parish.
Make our community hungry for best practices
and continuous learning.
Give me courage when I am afraid,
hope when I am discouraged,
and clarity in times of decision.
Teach me to enjoy uncertainty and lead your Church
to become all you imagined it would be
for the people of our times.
Amen.

Source: Dynamic Catholic
"JUST PRAY"

Pray without ceasing
—1 Thessalonians 5:17

"God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer."
—Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta

When and how do you pray?

All spiritual prayer practices seek to lead us into a deeper relationship and communion with God. Prayer is at the center or heart of our spiritual life. Prayer is not to change God but, if we are receptive, to allow God's love to transform our minds, hearts, and entire being.

There are many ways to pray. As Saint John Paul II stated, "Pray any way you like, so long as you do pray." Dom John Chapman exhorts us to "Pray as you can, not as you can't." He further offers:

The only way to pray is to pray; and the way to pray well is to pray much. If one has no time for this, then one must at least pray regularly.

We are bombarded throughout every day with constant “noise”—with thoughts continually flooding through our minds, or arising from our emotions, or from our surroundings, from people talking, while using the cell phone, reading or writing emails, surfing the internet, engaging in social media, or listening to music, podcasts, radio, television and the like. When do you allow time to listen in silence to the voice of God?

To begin to pray more effectively requires us to regularly dedicate quiet time and space for prayer each day. This, of course, requires us to organize our lives. As Fr. Michael Casey, a Trappist monk, states:

Whether we pray or not depends largely on this willingness to organize our lives….Time is precious and so many things clamor for attention that we will not get around to our spiritual needs unless we arrange a vacant space in which to do nothing else.

Scripture repeatedly reminds us how Jesus went off alone to pray. As Jesus taught, "But when you go to pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you." (Mt 6:6).

As the Catechism teaches:

...God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, the faithful God's initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response(CCC, no.2567).

As Father Casey describes it:

We do not produce prayer. During prayer time we do not attempt to initiate a relationship with God; that relationship already exists. Prayer is an attempt to realize the love that unites us with God, allow it to become more present to us, and give it greater scope to act upon us and to change us. We not produce prayer. We allow prayer to act.

Spend dedicated time each day in silence with God in prayer, opening your heart and mind to God's indwelling love, and allowing God's love to transform you."

VIDEOS

"Prayer" (Bishop Robert Barron)

"Pray as You Can, Not as You Can't" (Fr. Mike Schmitz)

"What is Prayer? (Bishop Don Hying)

"How Am I Suppose to Pray?" (Bishop Don Hying)

"Prayer" (Fr. James Martin, S.J.)

"Introduction to the Power of Prayer"

"The Five Forms of Prayer"

"Three Expressions of Prayer"

"Why Do We Pray" (Fr. Mike Schmitz)

"The Value of Silence" (Fr. Mike Schmitz)

"Time to Pray" (Fr. Mike Schmitz)

"3 Steps to Unceasing Prayer" (Fr. Mike Schmitz)

"Tips for Praying" (Fr. Mike Schmitz)
MUSIC

"Forty Days and Forty Nights"

"The Glory of These Forty Days"

"Hosea"
OTHER RESOURCES

"How Catholics Pray"

"Why Can't I Hear God?"

"We Hear With the Same Ear God Hears Us"

"The Meaning of Prayer" (Fr. John Hardon, S.J.)

"What is Prayer?" (Fr. John Peter Cameron, O.P.)

"How to Pray, A Catholic Guide to the Interior Life"

"Christian Prayer" (Catechism of the Catholic Church)

"Catholic Spirituality in Practice" (C 21 - Boston College)

Links to other Articles, Videos, Music, practices, and Resources for Lent and Easter
REFLECT ON YOUR EXPERIENCE

Do you dedicate time each day to be alone, in silence, with God?

What way or ways do you pray with God?
We encourage and invite you to  spend time to reflect, pray, and write in your journal about what you have read, seen, heard, or experienced this week. You can find some questions you may wish to consider here.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, in now, and ever shall be.
Amen.