Ways of Prayer

What prayer is

“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” So St. Thérèse of Lisieux described it, and the Catechism opens its teaching on prayer with her words (CCC 2558). Prayer is a relationship with God, and like any relationship it grows with time and faithfulness.

The Catechism describes three expressions of prayer: vocal prayer, in words; meditation, a quest of the mind and heart to understand God’s ways; and contemplative prayer, a simple loving gaze on God (CCC 2700–2724). It also names the basic forms: blessing and adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise (CCC 2626–2643). The practices below draw on all of them. For the basic prayers themselves, see Prayers & Devotions.

The Angelus and the Regina Caeli

The Angelus recalls the Incarnation, the moment the Son of God became man. It is traditionally prayed three times a day, at 6 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m., when many church bells still ring. The Pope leads it from his window in St. Peter’s Square every Sunday at noon.

During the Easter season, from Easter Sunday through Pentecost, the Regina Caeli (“Queen of Heaven”) takes the Angelus’s place:

The Morning Offering

A short prayer on waking offers the whole day to God, so that ordinary work and even small sufferings become prayer. This traditional form is associated with the Apostleship of Prayer, now the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network:

Lectio Divina

Lectio divina, “divine reading,” is a slow, prayerful reading of Scripture that goes back to the monks of the early Church. The twelfth-century Carthusian Guigo II described its classic four steps, and Pope Benedict XVI recommended it to all the faithful (Verbum Domini 86–87). Choose a short passage, such as the Sunday Gospel, and set aside fifteen or twenty minutes.

1. Read (lectio). Read the passage slowly, perhaps aloud, two or three times. What word or phrase stands out?
2. Meditate (meditatio). Turn it over in your mind. What is God saying to you, today, through it?
3. Pray (oratio). Answer God in your own words: thanks, sorrow, a request, praise.
4. Contemplate (contemplatio). Rest quietly in God’s presence, without many words.

Pope Benedict added that lectio divina should lead to action (actio): a life shaped by the Word.

The daily Examen

St. Ignatius of Loyola taught a short review of the day, traditionally made in the evening (Spiritual Exercises 43). It takes about ten minutes, and he considered it the one practice never to skip.

1. Give thanks for the gifts of the day, large and small.
2. Ask for light from the Holy Spirit to see the day truthfully.
3. Review the day, hour by hour: where did you respond to God’s love, and where did you fail?
4. Ask forgiveness for your sins, with sorrow and trust.
5. Resolve with God’s help to do better tomorrow, and end with an Our Father.

The Examen is also good preparation for Confession.

The Liturgy of the Hours

The Liturgy of the Hours, or Divine Office, is the public prayer of the whole Church, which sanctifies the day with psalms, Scripture readings, hymns, and intercessions. Priests, deacons, and many religious are obliged to pray it daily (can. 276, 1174), and the Second Vatican Council encouraged the laity to pray it too, especially Morning and Evening Prayer (Sacrosanctum Concilium 100).

• Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers) are the two “hinges” of the day (Sacrosanctum Concilium 89).
• Night Prayer (Compline), prayed just before sleep, is short and an easy place to start.
• There are also the Office of Readings and Daytime Prayer.

You can pray it from the one-volume book Christian Prayer, or free online at Universalis or iBreviary.

Novenas

A novena is a prayer repeated on nine consecutive days for a particular intention or in preparation for a feast. The custom recalls the nine days the apostles and Mary spent in prayer between the Ascension and Pentecost (Acts 1:14). Well-known novenas include:

• The Novena to the Holy Spirit, from the day after Ascension to Pentecost.
• The Divine Mercy Novena, from Good Friday to Divine Mercy Sunday.
• The Christmas Novena, December 16–24.
• Novenas to Our Lady and the saints, such as St. Joseph before his feast on March 19.

A novena is not a formula that guarantees a result. Treating any prayer as automatically effective, apart from faith and the interior disposition it expresses, is superstition (CCC 2111). A novena is persevering, trusting prayer, like the widow in Jesus’ parable (Luke 18:1–8).

Eucharistic adoration

Jesus is truly present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Blessed Sacrament (CCC 1374). Many parishes expose the Eucharist in a monstrance for adoration, and some have perpetual adoration chapels. A “holy hour” answers Jesus’ question in Gethsemane: “Could you not watch with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40). You can also simply stop into a church and pray before the tabernacle (CCC 1378, 1418). Read about the Eucharistic miracles.

A simple daily rhythm

• On waking: the Sign of the Cross and the Morning Offering.
• At noon: the Angelus, or the Regina Caeli in the Easter season.
• During the day: ten or fifteen minutes with Scripture (lectio divina), or a decade of the Rosary.
• At night: the Examen, then Night Prayer or an Act of Contrition.
• Weekly: Sunday Mass, and if you can, a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. On Fridays, the Stations of the Cross.

Start with one practice and keep it faithfully before adding another. “Pray constantly” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) begins with praying regularly.