How are we supposed to pray?

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I’ll bet everybody thinks this is a dumb question.

How many times don’t we pray for health, a job, or maybe a spouse? At church we pray for the dead, the sick, the Pope and whomever the Mass is offered for.

Yet as I pray the Our Father I don’t pray for the dead, the sick, a job or the Pope. Jesus taught us to pray with the Our Father. When we pray should we reflect on how our prayers work in the context of the Our Father?
 
larry85704 said:
I’ll bet everybody thinks this is a dumb question.

How many times don’t we pray for health, a job, or maybe a spouse? At church we pray for the dead, the sick, the Pope and whomever the Mass is offered for.

Yet as I pray the Our Father I don’t pray for the dead, the sick, a job or the Pope. Jesus taught us to pray with the Our Father. When we pray should we reflect on how our prayers work in the context of the Our Father?
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I think that prayer has to be YOUR personal conversation with God. Whether that be the rosary, prayers for the intercession of saints, thanksgiving, petitions, adoration, etc. it has to be from your heart.

I think that the great thing about prayer is that there is no set outline or rules to follow. We are open to pray 5 minutes a day or 24 hours a day if we so choose. We can pray in the morning or night or even offer little devotions throughout the day.

Again, it is about you deepening your relationship with our Lord. How do you strengthen any relationship? With your kids? Your spouse? Your parents? Friends? Finace? You spend time with them.

God just wants you to spend time with Him!
 
Remember that prayer is a gift from God!

“In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.” (Romans 8:26)

Ask God to give you the grace to pray how he wants you to pray. Prayer is more his work in us than it is ours.

Prayer is not so much ours at all. Even looking at the “Our Father,” we recognize it as a prayer that Christ gave to the Church. Each of us can enter into that prayer, but the Church because she is animated by the Holy Spirit can address Christ as a spouse. Because Christ is the Head of the Church, the Church can address God the Father, who listens to the words of his Son.

Thus, the Mass itself is the greatest prayer since it is Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to his Father which he allows the Church to share in.

Our private devotions should always help foster our participation in the Mass and the liturgy of the Church.

The prayer of Christ and the Church pre-exists us, but it is something that we have been given the grace of participating in.
 
Do we pray for something?

Yes we do.

What do we pray for?

How about a better job. You know, to have more money. Maybe God isn’t giving us a better job because we spend too much money on junk we shouldn’t buy.

How about us praying for the salvation of another’s soul. How can we do that without asking God to not respect free will? Doesn’t the other person need to make a choice to love God?

The Our Father says, “thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”. Doesn’t this mean that we are to pray for God’s will to be done, not ours?

Is it better, when praying for something, or someone, to ask God to make us open to see His will and accept it?

It seems to me that prayer is for me. My prayer can never be for somebody else unless I ask to accept God’s will for that person. But that is unique to me as well.
 
I was taught a while back…saying…‘not my will, but thy will be done, Father,’ really shows God that no matter what…His will, you trust.
 
larry85704 said:
I’ll bet everybody thinks this is a dumb question.

How many times don’t we pray for health, a job, or maybe a spouse? At church we pray for the dead, the sick, the Pope and whomever the Mass is offered for.

Yet as I pray the Our Father I don’t pray for the dead, the sick, a job or the Pope. Jesus taught us to pray with the Our Father. When we pray should we reflect on how our prayers work in the context of the Our Father?
Click to expand...
I recommend two good books written by Peter Kreeft called Prayer For Beginners and Prayer: The Great Conversation.
 
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