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    What Is Prayer

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    Yel B
    The document discusses the nature and forms of prayer in Christianity. It defines prayer as raising one's mind and heart to God or requesting good things from Him. Prayer engages a person in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The forms of prayer mentioned include blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise. Meditation is described as a quest to understand and adhere to what God asks through reflection on scripture, liturgy, or creation. Meditating on scripture specifically involves reading, meditating, praying, and contemplating a passage to encounter its meaning and God.

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    What Is Prayer

    Uploaded by

    Yel B
    61 views3 pages
    The document discusses the nature and forms of prayer in Christianity. It defines prayer as raising one's mind and heart to God or requesting good things from Him. Prayer engages a person in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The forms of prayer mentioned include blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise. Meditation is described as a quest to understand and adhere to what God asks through reflection on scripture, liturgy, or creation. Meditating on scripture specifically involves reading, meditating, praying, and contemplating a passage to encounter its meaning and God.

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    When in doubt, pray

    Original Title

    What is Prayer

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    The document discusses the nature and forms of prayer in Christianity. It defines prayer as raising one's mind and heart to God or requesting good things from Him. Prayer engages a person in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The forms of prayer mentioned include blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise. Meditation is described as a quest to understand and adhere to what God asks through reflection on scripture, liturgy, or creation. Meditating on scripture specifically involves reading, meditating, praying, and contemplating a passage to encounter its meaning and God.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    61 views3 pages

    What Is Prayer

    Uploaded by

    Yel B
    The document discusses the nature and forms of prayer in Christianity. It defines prayer as raising one's mind and heart to God or requesting good things from Him. Prayer engages a person in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The forms of prayer mentioned include blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise. Meditation is described as a quest to understand and adhere to what God asks through reflection on scripture, liturgy, or creation. Meditating on scripture specifically involves reading, meditating, praying, and contemplating a passage to encounter its meaning and God.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    usccb.

    org

    What is Prayer

    “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the


    requesting of good things from God” (St. John Damascene,
    CCC 2559).

    God invites us into a relationship with Him that is both


    personal and communal. He speaks to us through His Son,
    Jesus Christ, the Word-made-flesh. Prayer is our response
    to God who is already speaking or, better yet, revealing
    Himself to us. Therefore, prayer is not merely an exchange
    of words, but it engages the whole person in a relationship
    with God the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit.

    How do I pray?

    Various forms of prayer are presented in the Catechism of


    the Catholic Church (CCC 2623-2649). These various forms
    include prayer of bless or adoration, prayer of petition,
    prayer of intercession, prayer of thanksgiving, and prayer of
    praise.

    What is meditation?

    Meditation is a Christian practice of prayer dating back to


    the early Church. As the Catechism states: “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.” By meditating on the
    Gospels, holy icons, liturgical texts, spiritual writings, or
    “the great book of creation,” we come to make our own that
    which is God’s. “To the extent that we are humble and
    faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir
    the heart and we are able to discern them. It is a question
    of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: “Lord,
    what do you want me to do?” (CCC 2705-2706).

    Meditation is an essential form of Christian prayer,


    especially for those who are seeking to answer the
    vocational question, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”

    Meditating on Sacred Scripture

    Spiritual reading of Sacred Scripture, especially the


    Gospels, is an important form of meditation. This spiritual
    reading is traditionally called lectio divina or divine reading.
    Lectio divina is prayer over the Scriptures.

    How do we pray over the Sacred Scriptures?

    1. The first element of this type of prayer is reading (lectio):


    you take a short passage from the Bible, preferably a
    Gospel passage and read it carefully, perhaps three or more
    times. Let it really soak-in.

    2. The second element is mediation (meditatio). By using your


    imagination enter into the Biblical scene in order to “see”
    the setting, the people, and the unfolding action. It is
    through this mediation that you encounter the text and
    discover its meaning for your life.

    3. The next element is prayer (oratio) or your personal


    response to the text: asking for graces, offering praise or
    thanksgiving, seeking healing or forgiveness. In this
    prayerful engagement with the text, you open yourself up to
    the possibility of contemplation.

    4. Contemplation (contemplatio) is a gaze turned toward


    Christ and the things of God. By God's action of grace, you
    may be raised above meditation to a state of seeing or
    experiencing the text as mystery and reality. In
    contemplation, you come into an experiential contact with
    the One behind and beyond the text.

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