how do you pray?

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angell1

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in the last couple of years, since I started taking my faith more seriously, , I’ve been trying to work on my prayer life

I’m now at a point wher spontaneous prayer is pretty natural for me. I have can have little random conversations with God throughout the day, that sort of thing. and I do have other devotions as well. trying to say the divine mercy chaplet often, lectio divina, working on saying the rosary more, trying certain novenas once in a while

I guess I need to really set that block of time aside for God each day and cease all activity, that is what I have difficulty with

so I’m wondering, what do you guys do for your prayer lives and perhaps I can get some inspiration for a better structure for mine
 
It helps to have a set time and stick with it. I like to start with some material for meditation (lexio divina, rosary mysteries, sacred art). This gets me in a more spiritual frame of mind, and also gives me something within which to frame my prayers (e.g. Lord, grant me to accept the Father’s will as you did in the Garden). If I don’t know what to say, I use A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). And I try to make at least some of it focus on God alone, for his own sake. (It’s so easy to make our prayers all revolve around ourselves and what we want.)
 
I pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Rosary, Legion of Mary Tessera, and the Jesus prayer every day. I like talking to Jesus about my friends and family, and I often ask for his grace.
 
As there are around 52 billion people on Earth there must be nearly that many ways to pray. Unless one is a true athesist, of course.

If you are comfortable with the written word, then pray using the written word or formulas. If you are at peace with spontanious prayer or a vocal, conversational prayer, then pray that way.

When the Apostles asked Jesus how to pray, he taught them “The Our Father” or the “Jesus Prayer.”

Prayer is a personal relationship communication with God. Like all good relationships they develope and grow. Your prayer life will grow, too. Most of us are not born saints or with all the blessing and graces that are ours to have through prayer and fasting. So to ask “How do you pray” is a hard question to answer. God does not want us to be copy cat people of prayer. He wants us to put a little effort into “becoming” a spiritual person…not just a Catholic/Christian person.

I personally like the Rosary, but the Rosary isn’t for everyone. You might try LOTH. It is online and is in audible form. There are all kinds of ways to pray: You just have to find your prayer niche.
 
Pax Christi!

Traditional memorized Catholic prayers. Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet. EWTN has litanies that I love.

God bless!
 
Liturgy of the Hours and Contemplative Prayer, morning before breakfast and evening before supper.

The Jesus Prayer, said throughout the day

Jim
 
There is no correct way to pray, nor is there any correct posture when praying. Whatever prayers or posture help you focus your prayers on God, then keep doing that. I personally say the prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours. On some days I’ll say multiple hours l (like the morning, evening, and night prayer), on others I’ll only say part of the hour. Despite its name, they usually only take a few minutes to say. On Fridays, I always say the Litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On more solemn days, I’ll include hymns in my prayers, which I try to sing to the best of my ability, even though if people were to hear me they would probably cringe.

If you’re interested in how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, here’s a website that has the particular prayers and readings for each day (they change daily), and instruction on how to pray them, and on what they are: divineoffice.org/
 
Daily Mass is the top priority for me. Not just attending, but performing various ministries is also my offering to God. Beyond that, I use a form of Divine Office (I use the offices from the Book of Common Prayer, which is similar to the Ordinariate Customary but has a few extra prayers at the end). The plus of the BCP/Customary over the Roman Rite LoTH (aside from the more traditional language for those of us who like that sort of thing) is that it is consolidated into two offices per day, morning and evening. Both can be a but much, but I try to say at least one per day. Compline is also available online and I say this before I go to bed. There are some other bits and pieces from the BCP that I also use, a very good Litany - a list of prayers for various people and things which is always good to help us remember everything we should be praying for, and the Commitation, which is a penitential service. If you ever need to feel sorry for your sins, say the Commitation out loud. All of these are available online. I also say the Rosary three times a week as a minimum (as a member of the Confraternity of the Rosary, sorrowful, glorious and joyful once a week each). Also, adoration. My parish only offers formal adoration once a month, but I’m one of the parish sacristans and have a key. So I can stay and pray before Jesus for as long as I like.

My only problem is I can be a little irregular about my prayer life, but I try to do at least one substantial devotion per day in addition to Mass.
 
The Liturgy of the Hours and, when I need a change, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I usually do the Rosary before I go to bed.

If you need something brief, do the Angelus morning, noon, and evening.
 
I pray every morning after getting out of bed. I kneel down at the foot of my bed and after saying the Glory Be, offer God all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of His Sacred Heart. For all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for all the intentions of my family and friends and in particular for the intentions of our Holy Father, Pope Francis. I then thank Him for allowing me another day on His Earth

At 3:00 pm (I try to say around 3:00 pm but I must admit sometimes I forget or am a little late), I say the Divine Mercy Chaplet and meditate on Jesus’ Passion.

Then before bed I again kneel down at the foot of my bed and say the Glory Be, Our Father, Hail Mary and a special prayer for my deceased family and friends and all the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

I also just talk to God about my day and anything that happened. I sometimes pray for non-believers, those that mock Christianity, for members of my family to return to the Church or for protection for my mother.

I usually end my prayers by telling Jesus that I trust Him, love Him and ask that He fill my heart with love, forgiveness, charity, mercy and kindness towards my fellow brothers and sisters.
 
Truegrit said:
As there are around 52 billion people on Earth there must be nearly that many ways to pray. Unless one is a true athesist, of course.

If you are comfortable with the written word, then pray using the written word or formulas. If you are at peace with spontanious prayer or a vocal, conversational prayer, then pray that way.

When the Apostles asked Jesus how to pray, he taught them “The Our Father” or the “Jesus Prayer.”

Prayer is a personal relationship communication with God. Like all good relationships they develope and grow. Your prayer life will grow, too. Most of us are not born saints or with all the blessing and graces that are ours to have through prayer and fasting. So to ask “How do you pray” is a hard question to answer. God does not want us to be copy cat people of prayer. He wants us to put a little effort into “becoming” a spiritual person…not just a Catholic/Christian person.
Where do you get your numbers? There are about seven billion people on Earth
I personally like the Rosary, but the Rosary isn’t for everyone. You might try LOTH. It is online and is in audible form. There are all kinds of ways to pray: You just have to find your prayer niche.
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Where do you get your numbers? There are about seven billion people on Earth
 
Pax Christi!

May I add, I also go to daily Mass frequently. The Mass is one big prayer made up of many prayers.

God bless.
 
Amen. Daily Mass is really the best daily prayer routine you can have.
 
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