Prayer
May my prayer be like incense in your presence.
Psalm 141.2
Opening Prayer
God of love, we yearn to be close to You. It is in being close to You that we find hope, happiness and peace. In prayer, like now, we stand before You – in conversation. However, at times, we find some difficulty in prayer. We don’t know how; we don’t know if we’re doing it right. Help us today as we learn more about prayer.
Mary, our Mother in Heaven, hear the prayers we place before your Son. Guide us in our reflection that in meditation we may be lead closer and closer to your Son’s merciful and loving heart.
Amen.
Introduction
For many young people prayer has been relegated to the memorization of the Apostle’s Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, Grace Before Meals and Prayers to one’s Guardian Angel. However, we find in discussion with many people that they yearn to understand what prayer is. There seems to be an overriding question “Now what?” that pervades thoughts when contemplating prayer.
Many can tell you that prayer is the conversation with God. Now what?
Many can recite popular prayers. Now what?
What is else is there? What are we missing? What am I suppose to do when I pray? What does it look like? What does it entail? What does it ask of me?
Questions
Start by asking, “Do you pray?” If someone says they do not, describe to them a scenario such as a time they heard some very bad (or very good) news about a close family member or friend, and ask them what they did. Point out that even if they went into their room and were quiet, they were praying!
From the questions listed in the introduction, ask those present, “What is prayer to you?” “Have you experienced asking the same questions?” “What do you think prayer is?” Record these on a chart paper. There is no right or wrong answer so please record all members’ ideas and let the list grow. Don’t be afraid to add your own ideas down as you are part of the learning, the sharing and it may even help move the brainstorming along if you find the members are not clear as to what “type of answer” is expected from them.
For the purpose of this session, we need to round up our thinking with the following questions:
What is prayer?
How do we pray?
Catechism
What is prayer?
2567 God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, the faithful God's initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response. As God gradually reveals himself and reveals man to himself, prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. Through words and actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout the whole history of salvation.
2559 "Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God."2 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?3 He who humbles himself will be exalted;4 humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought,"5 are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God."6
Gather together and provide a copy of the above two statements from the CCC. Have your group read it quietly several times and meditate on the message.
For example:
2567 à God calls us to pray. Our prayer is a response to God’s call to pray.
2559 à In order to pray we need to realize we are small and in that childlike belief we approach God knowing we are in need of God’s mercy and love.
Sharing can be done in a large group setting. Ideas can be written down on chart paper
Expressions of Prayer
Vocal
2701 Vocal prayer is an essential element of the Christian life. To his disciples, drawn by their Master's silent prayer, Jesus teaches a vocal prayer, the Our Father. He not only prayed aloud the liturgical prayers of the synagogue but, as the Gospels show, he raised his voice to express his personal prayer, from exultant blessing of the Father to the agony of Gesthemani.3
Meditation
2705 Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking. The required attentiveness is difficult to sustain. We are usually helped by books, and Christians do not want for them: the Sacred Scriptures, particularly the Gospels, holy icons, liturgical texts of the day or season, writings of the spiritual fathers, works of spirituality, the great book of creation, and that of history the page on which the "today" of God is written.
Contemplative
2713 Contemplative prayer is the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty. Contemplative prayer is a covenant relationship established by God within our hearts.9 Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, "to his likeness."
2716 Contemplative prayer is hearing the Word of God. Far from being passive, such attentiveness is the obedience of faith, the unconditional acceptance of a servant, and the loving commitment of a child. It participates in the "Yes" of the Son become servant and the Fiat of God's lowly handmaid.
2717 Contemplative prayer is silence, the "symbol of the world to come"12 or "silent love."13 Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. In this silence, unbearable to the "outer" man, the Father speaks to us his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus.
Ask members to read over each expression of prayer from above and discuss it in small groups with a large group sharing. This is a lead into examining the Types of Prayers.
Types of Prayer
Adoration
2628 Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us99 and the almighty power of the Savior who sets us free from evil. Adoration is homage of the spirit to the "King of Glory,"100 respectful silence in the presence of the "ever greater" God.101 Adoration of the thrice-holy and sovereign God of love blends with humility and gives assurance to our supplications.
Praise
2639 Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because HE IS. It shares in the blessed happiness of the pure of heart who love God in faith before seeing him in glory. By praise, the Spirit is joined to our spirits to bear witness that we are children of God,121 testifying to the only Son in whom we are adopted and by whom we glorify the Father. Praise embraces the other forms of prayer and carries them toward him who is its source and goal: the "one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist."122
Petition
2629 The vocabulary of supplication in the New Testament is rich in shades of meaning: ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat, cry out, even "struggle in prayer."102 Its most usual form, because the most spontaneous, is petition: by prayer of petition we express awareness of our relationship with God. We are creatures who are not our own beginning, not the masters of adversity, not our own last end. We are sinners who as Christians know that we have turned away from our Father. Our petition is already a turning back to him.
Intercession
2635 Since Abraham, intercession - asking on behalf of another has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God's mercy. In the age of the Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ's, as an expression of the communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks "not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others," even to the point of praying for those who do him harm.115
Thanksgiving
2638 As in the prayer of petition, every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving. The letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving, and the Lord Jesus is always present in it: "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you"; "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving."120
Go through each of the forms of prayer and have young adults identify prayers that they know that suit the specific form of prayer being examined. For example, the Glory Be is a prayer of Adoration. Identify prayers in the Celebration of the Eucharist that represents the specific prayers being examined. For example, the Prayers of the Faithful is a prayer of Petition (prayer for ourselves) and of Intercession (prayer for others).
and/or
Within small groups, members can contemplate on one of the passage from above. They can discuss it and then write a prayer that best represents the type being studied as group. Members can share the prayers together in the end. These prayers can be posted in the Church for the congregation to see and perhaps pray and read. Prayers can be copied and read as opening prayers or when gathering for prayers.
Prayer is…
For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux
It is not enough to say prayers, one must be prayer. One should not offer what one has, but what one is.
Paul Evdokimov
Prayer is remembering. We remember that we are the life of God in the world. We remember that love is our language and compassion our fruit.
Adolfo Quezada
If you want a life of prayer, the way to get it is by praying. You start where you are and you deepen what you already have. And you realize that you are already there.
Thomas Merton
Prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.
St. Teresa of Avila
Love to pray - feel often during the day the need for prayer, and take trouble to pray. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of himself.
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
Create a poster background. Put each quote on a 8”x11” paper. Give each member a copy of the above quotes for contemplation. Ask members to design a background, border around the quote. Discuss their choice with the large group explaining what they understand the quote to be.
and/or
Taking a quote, act out its message. The group members can choose to act out the affirmative or act out its negative in order to draw the positive message from the quote.
Final Meditation
You say that you don't know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and once you have said, 'Lord, I don't know how to pray!' rest assured that you have begun to do so.
St. Josemaria Escriva
Take the members in front of the Tabernacle for quiet prayer time. If possible bring along a CD of appropriate songs and play a song or two to begin. Before doing so, give the above quote on a piece of folded paper to members and have them read it in front of the Tabernacle.
Closing Prayer
Dear Jesus, help us to spread Your fragrance everywhere we go.
Flood our souls with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly
that our lives may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through us, and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with
may feel Your presence in our soul.
Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as You shine,
so to shine as to be a light to others.
The light, O Jesus, will be all from You; none of it will be ours.
It will be You, shining on others through us.
Let us thus praise You in the way You love best –
by shining on those around us.
Let us preach You without preaching; not by words but by our example;
by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do,
the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to You.
Faith on Film: Lorenzo’s Oil
Discussion questions:
In the movie, Michaela is persistent in obtaining a cure for her son. What was the source of her perseverance?
Have you ever experienced such persistence in your life? In what way?
How does perseverance play a role in your prayer life?
Personal reflection:
Reflect on times you’ve turned to God in prayer but felt no response. How did you react to this?
Why do you pray? When do you pray?
What can you do to increase perseverance in your prayer life?
What resulted when you gave up on prayer? How could persevering in prayer have helped you?
Quote:
Pray and learn to pray! … deepen your knowledge of the word of the living God by reading and meditating on the scriptures.
Pope John Paul II, Dilecti Amici
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