Prayer
Beginning Prayer: How Shall I Make a Return to the Lord?
For many of us, prayer was taught to us by our parents, grandparents, or catechists at a young age. We were invited to memorize certain prayers and begin a relationship with the Lord. That said, for many of us, our relationship never matured much beyond the basics. This is an invitation to make a return to the Lord by committing to a greater time of prayer each day.
Below we propose four traditional forms of prayer used in the life of the Church. Certainly there are many others but the ones below have been used by many a Catholic Christian and many saints to make progress in the spiritual life and grow into a deeper relationship with the Lord.
The fruits of true intimacy with God are infinite and eternal. More than anything, the Lord brings peace, joy, patience, perseverance, generosity of spirit, and renewed sense of purpose.
Click on the links for helpful resources to each of these types of prayer.
Lectio Divina
This is a way of reading the Scriptures that invites us to meditate and reflect on the Word of God. By it we let the Word come alive in us and move in us. A great way to begin is to use the Gospel for each day of the week, which can be found at usccb.org.
Liturgy of the Hours
"The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office or the Work of God (Opus Dei), is the daily prayer of the Church, marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer. The Hours are a meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ, using scripture and prayer. At times the dialogue is between the Church or individual soul and God; at times it is a dialogue among the members of the Church; and at times it is even between the Church and the world. The Divine Office 'is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom. It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father.' (SC 84) The dialogue is always held, however, in the presence of God and using the words and wisdom of God. Each of the five canonical Hours includes selections from the Psalms that culminate in a scriptural proclamation." (From the USCCB website Introduction to Liturgy of the Hours)