What exactly counts as prayer?

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Balaco

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Just trying to make sure I understand. If, in our minds, we are appreciating God, or hoping he helps ourselves or others, even if we don’t formally ask him or thank him, would this be continued a form of prayer?

Do our faithful actions count as prayer?
 
Balaco said:
Just trying to make sure I understand. If, in our minds, we are appreciating God, or hoping he helps ourselves or others, even if we don’t formally ask him or thank him, would this be continued a form of prayer?

Do our faithful actions count as prayer?
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Modern Catholic Dictionary:

PRAYER. The voluntary response to the awareness of God’s presence. This response may be an acknowledgment of God’s greatness and of a person’s total dependence on him (adoration), or gratitude for his benefits to oneself and others (thanksgiving), or sorrow for sins committed and begging for mercy (expiation), or asking for graces needed (petition), or affection for God, who is all good (love).

Catechism:

2559 “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or “out of the depths” of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not know how to pray as we ought,” are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. “Man is a beggar before God.”
 
Balaco said:
Just trying to make sure I understand. If, in our minds, we are appreciating God, or hoping he helps ourselves or others, even if we don’t formally ask him or thank him, would this be continued a form of prayer?

Do our faithful actions count as prayer?
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Yes! 🙂
 
Balaco said:
Just trying to make sure I understand. If, in our minds, we are appreciating God, or hoping he helps ourselves or others, even if we don’t formally ask him or thank him, would this be continued a form of prayer?

Do our faithful actions count as prayer?
Click to expand...
Make the morning offering as you start each day and everything you do and experience becomes a prayer-song to God.

In the morning offering, a person makes of themselves an offering in union with Jesus to the Father. This intention then makes holy and blesses even the tinyest things in our lives. God looks at the heart and so our intentions to love and serve him are important since this reflects our heart to him. Intentions, intentions, intentions, sanctifies our life and is the prayer God is looking for…the prayer of loving dedication.

Once this habit of offering oneself in the morning, it transforms our day into something good and blessed in all we do. It makes our day different and special.
 
Ah, so simply being aware of God and his love counts as prayer, in a sense, then.

I suppose I never really looked at it like that. When I’ve felt appreciation for God in the past, even though I didn’t realize it was a type of prayer, I’m assuming it still counted as prayer in God’s eyes?
 
St Bernard of Clairveaux saw a vision while his monks were at prayer. There were angels standing behind the monks recording their prayers with a pen. Some of the angels were recording the prayer in gold, some of them in silver, some of them in ink, some of them in water, and some of the angels were standing still and not writing at all.

The angels recording in gold, silver, or ink were writing down the prayers of the monks. The angels recording in water were recording, but the water quickly evaporated, because they were recitations without real intent or awareness of God. The angels standing still weren’t recording at all, because the monks had no awareness of God in their mind.

Having an awareness of God in your thoughts and a love & holy fear towards him is prayerful: actual words being formed is not necessary. Sometimes spouses talk to each other casually, sometimes more seriously, and sometimes they are just enjoying each others’ company.
 
TK421 said:
Having an awareness of God in your thoughts and a love & holy fear towards him is prayerful: actual words being formed is not necessary. Sometimes spouses talk to each other casually, sometimes more seriously, and sometimes they are just enjoying each others’ company.
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I see, so recognizing and loving God, and wanting him to help us is a form of prayer, even without thinking actual words.
 
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