Why Pray?
Prayer is essentially about making a conscious effort as individuals or as community to be 'aware' of God’s presence and enter further into relationship with Father, Son and Spirit.
As in any relationship:
- we do not always have to communicate in words - we can just be in silence with the other
- we most certainly need to listen – as Christians we believe that God speaks to us in many ways (including through nature, life experience, Sacred Scripture, the sacraments and, most fully, through the person of Jesus)
- we can speak to God in the silence of our own heart or aloud in words, song or any other mode of expression (our words may be those of praise, thanksgiving, petition, wonder, fear, joy, sorrow etc.)
- we believe that our prayer can bring about transformation in our own lives and, therefore, in our faith communities, in society and in the world
Most of us will find that prayer comes more readily when we take the trouble to create a time and a space in which we can give ourselves entirely to God without interruption. Nobody else can do this for us. It may be a quiet moment of the day and a special corner of the house; a few minutes spent in solitary prayer in a church or a rosary in the park or a meditative walk at sunset. There are no rules or regulations, just that we make time. Usually this means that we have to cut into other activities. The key is regularity. If we do not build prayer into our daily lives it will speedily slip away when the going gets tough.
How to pray
There are many ways to pray: meditation; formal prayer including the rosary, Mass, the prayers of the Church; Lectio Divina (praying with the Scriptures); Taize prayer. Read more…
For a prayer experience
Sacred Space provides daily prayer online in various community languages. It is prepared by the Jesuits and is easy to access. Read more…
The Carmelite community offers information on prayer including Getting Started and Prayer and Life as well as an introduction to prayer in the Carmelite tradition. Read more…