Prayer Recommendations

  • Thread starter Thread starter JacquelineMary
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

JacquelineMary

Guest
Hey there! I’ve been slowly learning about Christianity for the past few years and have attended a Protestant Church for about a year before suddenly realizing that most of my confusion and disagreements about doctrine and practice were Catholic! I’m going to my first RCIA meeting today after quite a bit of self-study. Yay!

My question is: I’ve been praying the Rosary, five decades I believe for the past week and I’ve really been enjoying it but I don’t actually know what else is useful to pray. My prayer life has been only very slowly growing over the years but having a specific prayer leading me has been a blessing so far. What other daily prayers do Catholics pray and why?
 
First of all, welcome to CAF! 😃

We are a motley bunch, to say the least, but most of us are relatively sane. 😂

Regarding prayer, you are likely to hear as many ideas as there are people on CAF, which is likely because the Church offers us so many options.

Personally, I love the Psalms. I have committed at least one Psalm (73) to memory because it speaks to my heart so deeply, and has for decades. I like to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, which is a very structured way of praying the Psalms and other scriptures.

I also tend to pray through conversation (“Lord, I just need to have a conversation about what’s going on…”) or through scripture verses, whether praise or petition.
 
Welcome to CAF and I think you love RCIA. It will answer many questions including this one.

As for prayer; the previous answer was a good one.

I would start out slowly and build up to more prayer gradually. I came back to Church after a long (40 year) absence and started my prayer life with the Rosary. Now m wife and I read daily devotions to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, the LOTH and the Rosary every morning.

There are many other things you can do. The Little Office to the Blessed Virgin is a common one. You can read the daily Mass reading with commentary. This will introduce you to Catholic thought on Holy Scripture. There are many people, priests and lay who offer these. Or you can get a Catholic Study Bible and do your own Bible Study.

Look into it and talk with the RCIA director, then try several things to see which way God speaks to youmost clearly.

Patrick
AMDG
 
I got (the Kindle edition) of Catholic Book of Prayers by Rev. Maurus Fitzgerald on Amazon. Great l book, very organized. Being that I’m learning about the Catholic faith I found prayer overwhelming but this is perfect. Broken down into Common prayers, daily, Holy Mass, Order of the Mass, Communion Prayers, Confession Prayers, Devotional Prayers(Rosary, Stations of the Cross, Scared Heart of Jesus, Prayers to the Trinity and many more). I use this daily. Being that it is right on my phone, it is great for learning the prayers and having it portable no mater where I am.
 
Welcome

Well prayer is essentially for us, for our own good. We talk to God and grow and develop through this and receive His graces and learn about them and how, when to use them for our truly best interests and for the best interests of others, we also learn to love as Jesus did, all through our prayer. Don’t worry if that seems a lot. Jesus does all this anyway even if we don’t realise, just like a parent does so much for a child that the child never knows all the parent is doing. Prayer is sort of like becoming aware of some of that, by building a relationship with God. Prayer can be anything from a simple one line prayer asking God to help you find a parking space (and thanking Him for it) to something more complex like the LOH (liturgy of the hours/divine office) . By the way if you do decide to do LOH use an app, the book is lovely lovely but quite complex to work out on your own and you need a set of 3 to cover all ‘hours’ though most lay people only do the major hours or some of the major hours, like Morning prayer and Evening prayer and perhaps Night Prayer (Lauds, Vespers and Compline) . I’d wait a bit before doing that if I were you but they are wonderful so if you want to they take about 15 mins each ‘hour’ and an app is best, use your country to get the right one. If you are US then LOH will be fine.….Ok now I get to my recommendation - I suggest a Morning offering to be said every morning, which offers all your prayer/suffering/work/pleasures etc to God each day. It takes about 5 mins and there are many to chose from, some consecrate the day to the Sacred heart of Jesus offering all the things from your day to Him which I personally like very much cos if you forget to offer things, it is done and Jesus can decide what to use them for. There are other offering prayers, for your friends and relatives which are lovely too. I say that every morning soon after waking, while the kettle is boiling 😉
 
Start small, like Catholic children do.
A morning prayer or offering when you wake up. Could be as simple as, “Lord, bless this day and help me to be kind and do your will.”

Three Hail Marys, or an Our Father + 1 Hail Mary + Glory Be at some point during the day. Could be morning, or at bedtime.

A prayer when you first leave your house or get in the car. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph we pray, Be with me on my way.”

A grace before meals at least at one meal (we did it at dinner when I was growing up).

The Angel of God prayer (very short).

For devotions when you have a little time: Rosary, Divine Mercy chaplet, or read the daily Mass readings (US ones are on usccb.com) and reflect on it. You don’t have to do all of those every day. You can do a rosary one day, Divine Mercy the next, etc.

Converse with the Lord as it occurs to you throughout the day.

At night before bed, thank the Lord for the day, pray for any people or situations you wish, and maybe say one short prayer of your choice before sleep.

I was taught to do basically this as a child, daily, except for Divine Mercy as it had not been authorized by the Church yet.
 
Bluebright said:
rgy of the hours/divine office) . By the way if you do decide to do LOH use an app, the book is lovely lovely but quite complex to work out on your own and you need a set of 3 to cover all ‘hours’ though most lay people only do the major hours or some of the major hours, like Morning prayer and Evening prayer and perhaps Night Prayer (Lauds, Vespers and Compline) . I’d wait a bit before doing that if I were you but they are wonderful s
Click to expand...
I downloaded an app for the interactive rosary and I think it has a LOH as well so that helps a lot! Thank you!
 
phoage said:
Look into it and talk with the RCIA director, then try several things to see which way God speaks to youmost clearly.
Click to expand...
I think this will be what I follow in spirit. I don’t connect very well in prayer at all whether I’m just speaking aloud or reciting so having different approaches has been encouraging but I’m still sort of waiting to be lead…

I’m going to do that today I think!
Tis_Bearself said:
Start small, like Catholic children do.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this. I think starting out on this Christian journey I tend to feel overwhelmed by the amount of work I need to do. I am working my way through the Bible, attending Bible studies, RCIA, listening to podcasts of sermons, learning prayers, rules etc. It can feel a bit like trying to drink the ocean so the notion of keeping a childlike approach is relieving and humbling.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top