How should you pray? Is there a right or wrong way? Is there a specific formula you need to use? These are the questions I asked myself when I began my journey back to God. Let’s start by asking the question of what is prayer? According to St. Therese of Lisieux:

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.

Catholic Church. 2000. Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd Ed. Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us there are three ways to pray. Now if you are not Catholic it doesn’t matter, what does matter is that you pray and are sincere in your prayers.

Vocal Prayer – Praying “set” or formal prayers. Prayers such as the Our Father and the Hail Mary. Take a look in your bible’s and you will find a whole book of prayers you can recite. I’m referring to the Book of Psalms. Although it’s called vocal prayer it can be either mental or vocal.

You don’t need to recite standard prayers and Psalms, you can make up your own. This is how most of my prayers are. I just go to a quiet place, sometimes just a quiet spot in my head, and have a conversation with God. I tell him my concerns and ask for forgiveness or for his help with something. I used to ask him a lot of questions about what different passages of scripture meant or why things happened one way or another. I also have asked him to explain why I should believe in Him.

Meditative – Let me take a paragraph from the catechism:

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

Catholic Church. 2000. Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd Ed. Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference.

Reading scripture and then meditating on it is a good example of this type of prayer. Reading other texts and writings of others like the Church Fathers, or reading papal documents is a great way to pray. Even if you aren’t a Catholic reading the writings of the Saints and the Fathers of the Church can help you understand Christ and his teachings. Think about what you read and how it relates to your life. You can tie this in with your vocal prayer and ask God for help explaining it. I have done a lot of this and he always answers me.

Contemplative – Let me use a paragraph from the youth version of the Catechism:

Contemplative prayer is love, silence, listening, and being in the presence of God

Schönborn, Christoph, ed. 2011. Youcat English: Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church. Translated by Michael J. Miller. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

This is probably the hardest way to pray. I know it is for me. The other two ways can be done without necessarily being alone or in private although it’s good if you are. Most of my talks with God have been when I’m driving.

Contemplative prayer needs to to be in a quiet place with no distractions. That means no television, radio or internet. It should be just you and God. You need to be able to give your full attention to your prayer.

Are any of these better than the other? I don’t know, my thought is that it isn’t the way you pray but rather that you pray. Good things happen to those who pray.

I just want to put a disclaimer in here. As you know I am Catholic, not always a good one but I try my best. However anything I write is my opinion and not that of the Catholic Church. I am not an authority on any of this, just a person who has experienced things, studied things and have formed my own opinions. So please don’t take anything I say as “Gospel” unless it’s from the gospel.

I believe the first thing we need to do is believe in God, trust him and become a good Christian. This would make the world a much better place.