Prayer & Spiritual Life
Prayer is a relationship before it is a technique: the turning of the heart toward the God who is already turned toward us.
The Catechism begins its teaching on prayer with an old definition from Saint John Damascene: prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God (CCC 2559). It then adds something important. Prayer is first God’s initiative. We seek him because he has already come looking for us.
That is good news for anyone who feels they pray badly. The desire to pray is itself the beginning of prayer.
Five forms of prayer
The Church’s tradition names five basic forms (CCC 2626–2643).
- Blessing and adoration: acknowledging that God is God.
- Petition: asking for what we need, beginning with forgiveness.
- Intercession: asking on behalf of others.
- Thanksgiving: recognizing every good thing as a gift.
- Praise: glorifying God simply because he is.
Three expressions of prayer
- Vocal prayer: words, whether our own or the Church’s, such as the Our Father or the Rosary.
- Meditation: thinking prayerfully about Scripture or the mysteries of faith.
- Contemplative prayer: a simple, loving attention to God, often with few words.
Where to begin
Choose a time and a place, and keep them. Ten faithful minutes are better than an hour planned and never prayed. Begin with something you can hold on to: a Morning Offering, the day’s Gospel, a decade of the Rosary, a short prayer before sleep.
Expect distraction and dryness. They are not signs of failure. Returning gently to God, again and again, is the prayer.
Further reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church (Vatican).