In other words, if you ask me to pray “with” you, and you intend to launch into an improvised, spontaneous, 10-minute conversation with God, you cannot expect me to do anything other than stand by passively and listen, doing what I can to join my thoughts and intentions to yours. However, if you really want me to pray with you, and join my voice to yours, then you must reach for a text which we both know: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Salve Regina, the Te Deum, or some other “static” text. The fact that the prayer or prayers are “fixed” opens up the possibility of allowing multiple people to join in simultaneously.
