There are many ways to pray.
Prayer is a relationship, and, like any relationship, it is enriched, is maintained, and grows in and through a variety of ways: doing things together, speaking, listening, being still together, physical/sacramental gestures – holding hands, kissing,…
St Ignatius Loyola provides a lot of different ways of praying. In preparation for his feast day at the end of this month, a website has each day provided a different way to pray. It doesn’t matter at all if you’ve only just discovered this site – you can work through this at your own pace.
Here is the site: 31 days of St Ignatius.
You may add different resources for prayer in the comments below.
Here are some more:
There is a Chapel on this Liturgy site.
Lectio Divina – praying with the Scriptures.
Silent Prayer
The Examen of Saint Ignatius
Daily Prayer
The Eucharist
Intercession
What else has helped you? And/or might help others?
And – as we remind each other – let us pray for each other.
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A lot of folks think that prayer is a time for asking, a time to get out the wish list of wants, needs and desires. But the deepest meaning of the Hebrew verb for ‘to pray’ להתפלל behind the noun ‘pray’ תפילה is about introspection, self judgement or soul searching.
The Hebrew in Isaiah 56:7, וְשִׂמַּחְתִּים בְּבֵית תְּפִלָּתִי is usually translated as my house of prayer, but it says the house of my prayer. It speaks to God’s personal prayer, God’s introspection, self judgement or soul searching. The creator and the created engaged in self introspection together.
Thanks for directing us to this fascinating resource, Bosco.
I found it extremely helpful at one stage to be told that prayer is (or can be) like getting to spend time with a good friend you’ve been looking forward to seeing. When I first heard that, I thought, “What do I do when I’m finally with a friend I’ve been looking forward to seeing? Drink COFFEE of course!” That opened new horizons for my prayers. 🙂
I’m reminded of an old joke:
A young priest asked his bishop, “May I smoke while praying?”
The answer was an emphatic “No!”
Later, when he saw an older priest puffing on a cigarette while praying, the younger priest scolded him: “You shouldn’t be smoking while praying! I asked the bishop, and he said I couldn’t do it!”
“That’s odd,” the old priest replied. “I asked the bishop if I could pray while I’m smoking, and he told me that it was okay to pray at any time!”
Thanks, Jesse. I love the joke and know it in a Franciscan/Jesuit form – praying whilst smoking fits, of course, with the Jesuit ideal of contemplative even whilst active. Blessings.