PERSONAL PRAYER

“But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.” Luke 5:16

Let’s talk about how we pray when we are not part of a group: our personal prayer time. Everyone should have their own way of praying because, as we learned when we were children, prayer is the lifting of one's mind and heart to God.  Since each of us is unique and God is our creator, each of us has our own unique relationship with God and, as, over the years, we have developed our own way of conversing with our close friends, so we have developed our own way of communicating in prayer with God.

So, how do you talk to God?  Have you ever compared it with how others pray, with how the saints prayed?  Let's look at some ways of praying.

First, there are two main ways that we pray:  with others, communal prayer, and on our own, personal prayer.

We often start with a learned prayer, for instance, the Our Father, or with the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours) or a shortened form of it found in the Magnificat or the Word Among Us monthly booklets.

PRAYER METHODS AND PRAYER BOOKS

We may pray the whole prayer without stopping. When we pray with others, much of the time we use scripted words so that we can recite (and pray) the prayers in unison, We do this at Mass and in praying prayers that we all know, such as the Our Father, an Act of Contrition, the Glory Be, etc. We can, and many people do, also pray these memorized prayers privately.

Another way of praying privately is meditation1. That word, meditation, is used for many different practices, some of which are more centered on the person doing the meditating than on the God in whose presence we are praying. The form of meditation I am speaking about is God-centered meditation.

For St. Teresa of Avila, meditation is an early stage of prayer that a person passes through as their relationship with God and Jesus grows. It can and should lead to more intimate ways of being with God and Jesus. Some pray-ers (the one praying), may choose to meditate using the Lectio Divina, an ancient practice, through which one reads Scripture using a prescribed meditative procedure: listen, reflect, respond and rest.2 I see many daily Mass attendees with monthly booklets (Magnificat, The Word Among Us, Our Daily Bread, to name a few) which they use for meditation and other forms of prayer. I, myself, us the different sources for my daily prayer, among them, the Daily Offering, Divine Office and lots of reading material, much of which are purchased digital or audible books.

Before we get into whether or not to use these resources, let's first take a closer look at personal pray and how our own current prayer method and habits help "draw us" into the presence of God.

You see, God wants to be a partner with us, pray-ers, and, if we let that happen, God can draw us even closer to Himself. Isn’t it interesting that the all-powerful, ever-present God leaves it up to us to choose to engage with Him? How gentle and unintrusive God is! May each of us respond in kind, cooperating with this being drawn. (That means relinquishing some things I like about myself and my life as I open myself to hearing what God is revealing about Himself - and about me and my views.) Wherever you are, you can grow, but the process takes time and some direction which you can receive via people, reading and praying, in addition to your being drawn by God, especially by the Holy Spirit.

You see, God is supposed to be partner with us, pray-ers, and, if we let that happen, God can draw us even closer to Himself. Isn’t it interesting that the all-powerful, ever-present God leaves it up to us to choose to engage with Him? How gentle and unintrusive God is! May each of us respond in kind, cooperating with this being drawn. (That means relinquishing some things I like about myself and my life as I open myself to hearing what God is revealing about Himself - and about me and my views.) Wherever you are, you can grow, but the process takes time and some direction which you can receive via people, reading and praying, in addition to your being drawn by God, especially by the Holy Spirit.

What I realized, as we watched the Pivotal Players St. Benedict video, was that I was trained in how to pray and that many of you were not trained in how to pray. Thus, I suggested spending this summer exposing you to some training. I hope and pray that some of you will take advantage of this. If you have success, not only will your prayer and relationship with God benefit, your everyday life and relationships will be more joyful. And you will be better equipped disciples of Jesus.

    1. Meditation is not just thinking or pondering. According to the Center for Action and Contemplation, “Meditation is a practice of self-emptying. At its most basic, meditation is letting go—of our habitual thoughts, preferences, judgments, and feelings. . .. Meditation teaches us to live in an undefended way. Little by little we let go of the need to prove ourselves right or superior. We discover that we are not so different from others. We tap into our immense, God-given source of compassion and kindness. Meditation retrains our minds and hearts to know true humility and love.” How to Meditate, Richard Rohr, Center for Action and Contemplation, 2016.
    2. Lectio Divina is a contemplative way to read short passages of sacred text. With the first reading, listen with your heart’s ear for a phrase or word that stands out for you. During the second reading, reflect on what touches you, perhaps speaking that response aloud or writing in a journal. After reading the passage a third time, respond with a prayer or expression of what you have experienced and what it calls you to. Finally, rest in silence after a fourth reading. Richard Rohr, Richard Rohr, A Spring within Us: A Book of Daily Meditations, CAC Publishing, 2016.

Next:  Moving to an Awareness of God's Presence

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