What are a few of your favorite prayers?

[CilladeRoma]

This prayer is called the Suspice and it attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola.
It is one of my favorites!
This translation comes from the Jesuits:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and grace,
that is enough for me.

 

[Bluebright]

Prayer for daily neglects
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with all its love, all its sufferings and all its merits.
First - To expiate all the sins I have committed this day and during all my life.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Second - To purify the good I have done badly this day and during all my life.
Glory Be to the Father…
Third - To minister for the good I ought to have done, and that I have neglected this day and during all my life.
Glory Be to the Father…

 

[Mark121359]

The Litany of Loreto. (Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
Hail Holy Queen
The Litany of the Holy Ghost

 

[guanophore]

If you repeat someone else’s prayer it is no longer a prayer its a contemplative meditation.

What an odd thing to say.

So you think when the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he taught them "contemplative meditation in stead?

Your comment demonstrates that you do not understand the nature of contemplative meditation.

 

[kill051]

I have been a grateful devotee of the St Michael prayer, ever since the leader of the heavenly host saved me (I believe) from a diabolical visitation. I had just arrived home from work, and had to heed the call of nature. At the time, I lived alone, and would normally ‘do my business’ with the bathroom door wide open. This particular time, however, a very gentle, almost inaudible voice within me seemed to say, ‘Go ahead and close the door. Lock it, too. What can it hurt?’ So I closed and locked the door, did my business, and washed up. I turned to the closed door and put my hand on the door handle. Immediately, in my mind’s eye, I could clearly see what looked like a disheveled man, head bowed, standing waiting on the other side of the locked door. Don’t ask me how, but at once I instinctively knew two things: 1) The figure was not human, and 2) it intended to do me harm. I have never been so frightened since I was a boy, and I don’t scare easily. I took a few breaths, and when I was calmer I said the St Michael the Archangel prayer. Then I crossed myself, unlocked the door and opened it. The hall was empty. At once I quickly canvassed my tiny apartment, but there was no one there but me. Of course, there is always the possibility that I was merely hallucinating and that there never was a figure there in the first place. But to this day I say the St Michael prayer whenever I feel in the slightest bit of danger.

 

[Ann_Stanton]

I prefer praying the De Profundis (psalm prayer for the dead) every evening…

 

[setarcos]

My dear guanophore, what is it that you fear from me? It takes a small mind to imply another as ignorant before you’ve proven the case. I understand as much about contemplative meditation as you do about Christian charity. How much do you believe you understand about Christian charity?

 

[guanophore]

I understand as much about contemplative meditation

Perhaps so, but I can only go by your posts, which seem to indicate otherwise. It is true that an internet forum is a difficult standard to judge such things. Some people come here and role play being ignorant on purpose.

setarcos:

If you repeat someone else’s prayer it is no longer a prayer its a contemplative meditation.

You have posted a falsehood, but I can accept that you believe what you have said is true.

 

[setarcos]

As I can accept your belief that it is a falsehood though I haven’t been shown that yet. Lets start with how you define contemplative meditation and what its purpose is.

 

[setarcos]

Well, Jesus gave us the Our Father, and early Church writings indicate that they took it as a literal prayer that they should pray, not just a template.

I consider Jesus’s demonstration of a prayer to the apostles as one of example. All of scripture favors individualism in salvation. What I mean by that is that while communion with ones fellow Christians can be strengthening in ones struggles against the powers of this world it is the communion between the individual and God that is of the utmost importance. That communion is strongest when one utilizes who one is and what one understands themselves not by rote mimicry of another’s prayer to God.

In general, though, recited prayers do put into words things that are on our hearts, often in a way that better reflects what we want to say than we can think.

Do you not think God knows what is in your heart? I can imagine God is more pleased with individual effort and sincerity than the use of another’s colorful language for intimate discourse with him. Why would God care one wit that one has “mastered” a language more than another when communicating with him? Communication between human beings is a tricky affair which favors the person that said it best and so we say between ourselves that person said it best the way I am feeling since that way is the best I can do in communicating to another human. Yet prayer is not communicating with another human, it is communicating with God. And yet all’s your really communicating is that you agree with what’s been said better than you can say it. This is only necessary between humans in our finite capacities of communication between each other. Oh but to speak to GOD! We speak from the depths of our souls and from this depth comes an individuality that someone else’s prayer cannot convey. This is why I believe we’ve been given a template with which we are to individualize our communication.

We have more than 2000 years’ worth of prayers to pick from if you go back to those of the Old Testament, like in the Psalms.

There is nothing wrong to my thinking with reading another’s prayer’s, even to each other. The purpose though as I see it, is in contemplation and communion with each other and our relationship with God, not in personal communication with God as an individual.

 

[casslean]

There is nothing wrong to my thinking with reading another’s prayer’s, even to each other. The purpose though as I see it, is in contemplation and communion with each other and our relationship with God, not in personal communication with God as an individual.

God loves us. He wants us to communicate with Him however we can. If that means using recited prayers, so be it. He isn’t ranking the quality of our communications.

Imagine you had someone you truly loved and they sent you a beautiful poem that expressed their feelings for you. Would you consider that a lesser form of communication than if they had written the poem themselves?

 

[Zaccheus]

The Glory Be.
The Hail Mary.

The rosary as a whole.

 

[setarcos]

God loves us. He wants us to communicate with Him however we can. If that means using recited prayers, so be it. He isn’t ranking the quality of our communications.

I agree with your first sentence. I think I’ve made an argument against the second, and your third sentence is a part of my argument against your second sentence. Of course I can see no reason these things are a hard necessity of practice for our salvation so in this case should you disagree with my argument I can see no reason for it to be a detriment to either of us. It simply feels more correct to me.

Imagine you had someone you truly loved and they sent you a beautiful poem that expressed their feelings for you. Would you consider that a lesser form of communication than if they had written the poem themselves?

Funny you should ask. I most certainly would. I’d rather have a juvenile personal attempt at conveying feelings to me than someone else’s poem my lover picked up at the store and put their stamp on it. Who among us wouldn’t cherish our child’s personalized touch of an attempt at making a gift for us? Tell me, which takes more sincere effort which one can recognize? On the one hand obviously sincere effort and trust has been put forth in that the giver is trying, no matter how hard, to convey their personal feelings on their own terms despite the possibility of criticism from the self or others in their efforts while the other may be sincere but has taken solace in the surrogate feelings of another or it may be simply a sign of insincere laziness, an easy way to pacify a lover not quite loved. There’s no good way to tell in the second instance. Even the giver can fool themselves into mistaking this pacifying expression of love for the real active and true essence of sincere love.

 

[casslean]

Funny you should ask. I most certainly would. I’d rather have a juvenile personal attempt at conveying feelings to me than someone else’s poem my lover picked up at the store and put their stamp on it. Who among us wouldn’t cherish our child’s personalized touch of an attempt at making a gift for us? Tell me, which takes more sincere effort which one can recognize? On the one hand obviously sincere effort and trust has been put forth in that the giver is trying, no matter how hard, to convey their personal feelings on their own terms despite the possibility of criticism from the self or others in their efforts while the other may be sincere but has taken solace in the surrogate feelings of another or it may be simply a sign of insincere laziness, an easy way to pacify a lover not quite loved. There’s no good way to tell in the second instance. Even the giver can fool themselves into mistaking this pacifying expression of love for the real active and true essence of sincere love.

I think it you love someone, and know they love you, you would accept anything they provide as true essence of sincere love.

Clearly we simply conceive of the love God has for us in very different ways.

 

[setarcos]

I had hoped a ring of truth to what I have said would have been sounded within you. Be that as it may, I’m simply saying that its better to have faith in the love God has for you than to put your faith in the words of another to express your own convictions. It is my belief and understanding that God simply does not communicate with us in such ways. People lose faith in their own abilities and try to compensate with another’s. In doing so they’ve lost faith in Gods ability and desire to give us each individually the ability to communicate directly with him as a unique, and cherished person. You misunderstood, or misread, or don’t care what I’ve said. I can’t imagine God would love an individual any less if that individual repeated a prayer of another person as a sincere gesture of communication. What I do believe though is that a prayer unique to the individual, like the sacrifices of old, is, to our Father, preferable in communing with God than one that is plagiarized from another like some sort of magical incantation to serve ones purpose at the time.

 

[ThomasDooley81]

The rosary, nicene creed, St Michae prayer this prayer to the Holy Spirit
O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. Tell me what I should do; give me Your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me. Let me only know Your Will
And Sub Tuum Præsidium
We flee to your protection,
holy Mother of God.
Do not ignore our prayers in our time of need,
but from every danger free us always,
O glorious, O blessed Virgin.
Are among some of my favorite prayers also the confiteor used in TLM too,
I confess to almighty God, to the blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints, and to you, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I beseech the blessed Mary, ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all the Saints, and you, Father, to pray to the Lord our God for me.

 

[guanophore]

All of scripture favors individualism in salvation.

What an interesting twist! And flying in the face of the bulk of Scripture. One has to wonder what kind of lens it requires to interpret in this fashion.

That communion is strongest when one utilizes who one is and what one understands themselves not by rote mimicry of another’s prayer to God.

This may be the basis of the falsehood about using already written prayers. While I will agree that it is possible to do this by “rote mimicry”, this is not an appropriate/effective way to pray. The fact that people use prayers penned by others does not equal “rote mimicry”.

The book of Psalms was Jesus’ prayer book, and I am sure that He and His disciples did not pray the Psalms with “rote mimicry”. Praying with any scripture is not necessarily “rote mimicry” either.

Catholics believe the Scripture is theopneustos (God breathed) so for us it is coming from God himself, not just “another’s prayer”.

Do you not think God knows what is in your heart?

Exactly why such prayers are not “rote mimicry”.

I can imagine God is more pleased with individual effort and sincerity than the use of another’s colorful language for intimate discourse with him.

These two things are not mutually exclusive, as one finds quickly if one prays the Psalms.

Why would God care one wit that one has “mastered” a language more than another when communicating with him?

Have you ever considered that it is for the one who is praying? Prayer is not unlike poetry, in that some people are better at expressing the human experience than others.

And yet all’s your really communicating is that you agree with what’s been said better than you can say it.

And this is a problem because…?

We speak from the depths of our souls and from this depth comes an individuality that someone else’s prayer cannot convey.

Perhaps you are one of those “just me and Jesus, just us, nobody else”. But this is not how God taught human to pray. He has led His chosen people in communal worship since the beginning, and still does.

Or perhaps you are just anti-Catholic so you are using this “individuality” premise to jettison the Divine Liturgy and the Divine Office?

This is why I believe we’ve been given a template with which we are to individualize our communication.

I commend you to your individuality.

 

[guanophore]

There is nothing wrong to my thinking with reading another’s prayer’s, even to each other.

Well, of course you believe there is nothing wrong with it! If you realized it was wrong, then you would obviously be Catholic!

I think I’ve made an argument against the second,

No. You have not made any reasonable argument against the position that God wants us to communicate with Him however we can. In fact, by advocating your individualistic approach, you have debunked any opposition. You have advocated that a person should pray to God from the heart as best they can. Maybe you lost track of what you are opposing?

It simply feels more correct to me.

Well, I am glad we got that settled!

I’d rather have a juvenile personal attempt at conveying feelings to me than someone else’s poem my lover picked up at the store and put their stamp on it.

One should, by all means, measure the spirituality of others by their own preferences!

an easy way to pacify a lover not quite loved

And certainly add into that judging the souls of those who use written prayers as not genuine lovers of God…

Even the giver can fool themselves into mistaking this pacifying expression of love for the real active and true essence of sincere love.

And people that use written prayers are fooling themselves! This gets better and better!

I’m simply saying that its better to have faith in the love God has for you than to put your faith in the words of another to express your own convictions.

You have created a dichotomy where one does not exist.

It is my belief and understanding that God simply does not communicate with us in such ways.

That position will certainly facilitate the jettison of a great deal of Scripture! Not just psalms, but canticles, and anything else written in the inspired and inerrant Word that might become a part of a prayer!

I thank God that your assertion is not true, and that we can trust that God does communicate with us in the Scripture!

People lose faith in their own abilities and try to compensate with another’s.

So, maybe this is all about having confidence in your own abilities?

 

[guanophore]

You misunderstood, or misread, or don’t care what I’ve said.

I guess disagreement is just not an option? You MUST be right, so if people disagree then they must have not understood!

one that is plagiarized from another like some sort of magical incantation to serve ones purpose at the time.

This certainly reveals a great deal about your attitude toward praying Scripture, or using other prayers of the saints. One does not have to “plagiarize” to use lyrics penned by someone else. One does not have to think of using those lyrics as “magical incantation” either. You have a very warped perspective of prayer.

 

[Telstar]

How about the one that is unique and sincere from the one doing the praying. If you repeat someone else’s prayer it is no longer a prayer its a contemplative meditation.

Formulaic prayers, whether they are composed by the Saints or found in the Bible (Our Father, Psalms), and used by the Faithful, either in groups or as individuals, to express our love or give glory to God, are not considered to be “contemplative meditation”. So, your statement is a complete contradiction within itself. They might be used by some people to inspire their “contemplative meditation”, but they are not really a contemplative form of prayer at all.

“Meditation is a form of mental prayer consisting in the application of the various faculties of the soul, memory, imagination, intellect, and will, to the consideration of some mystery, principle, truth, or fact, with a view to exciting proper spiritual emotions and resolving on some act or course of action regarded as God’s will and as a means of union with Him. In some degree or other it has always been practiced by God-fearing souls.”

Basically, what you refer to as your preferred type of prayer (“one that is unique and sincere from the one doing the praying”) is just another form of spontaneous mental prayer, or meditation. Catholics also use that type of prayer. In fact, the Rosary is a form of both of those types of prayer. It includes reciting formulaic prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, etc.), while meditating on the lives of Jesus and Mary which we find in the Gospels. The main focus of the Rosary is Jesus, not Mary, which many Protestants fail to understand.

There are many different forms of Catholic prayer. We do not limit our spiritual exercises to only one particular formula or type of prayer. Every individual has their own personal preferences in regards to the ways they wish to communicate with God. The key to all of them is that they are used, first of all, to express our love to God, to give Him thanks for what we have already received from Him, and to ask for His help for our family, our friends, and for everything else we might need in our daily lives.