Lord, Teach Us to Pray

I am so excited to have joined the writing team of Catholic 365! I have been considering writing Catholic pieces for a long time, but there is always the question of what to write. Especially as a first piece. So while thinking and praying about what I should write about first, the answer came to me. What’s the most essential part of any Catholic life? What’s something that I can put some personal experience in? Prayer!

If we’re going to be perfectly honest, most of us really struggle with prayer. I’ll probably write more about it later, but for now I really want to focus on HOW to pray.

If I had to guess, I’d say that most of us were never taught how to pray personally. I know when I was little I was only ever taught memorized prayers. Now I’m definitely not here to insult the Our Father or tell people not to say the Rosary… each of their place. Both can really help teach us how to pray. But if you look at the great Saints like St. Teresa of Avila, St. Faustina, and Pope Saint John Paul II… they certainly did not only rattle off words to prayers they already knew. There is no doubt in my mind each of these three said their share of memorized prayers… St. Faustina gave us the Divine Mercy Chaplet. But if you look at the writings of the two female Saints, both point to a deep communion with God. Pope Saint John Paul II illustrated this at Mass, where he was reported to sit in silent prayer after Communion. Now I think it will look definitely for everybody… but the question is how do we even reach this point?

Now I’m going to teach you a starting point. It’s a 3 letter acronym that I learned in high school, which you can either implement in your own life or go on to teach your kids. The acronym is PAL, and here is what it means:

P – Praise – When I prayed using PAL I sang along with praise and worship music for this part. But if praise and worship music is not for you (and I know some people who say it’s REALLY not for them), just talk. Or write it down. We give compliments and praise to people we love, so why not try giving some to God?

A – Ask – I think everybody is more familiar with this. But next time, really ask and have confidence that God can and will do it. Look in this world today… there are many things going on that you can ask God to help with.

L – Listen – This is probably the hardest of the three for me. I’m not a very quiet person. But this is probably the most crucial of the steps. Imagine a marriage where one person did so much talking that the other couldn’t get a word in. Probably wouldn’t last that long. It’s the same with God. I’m still learning to listen, but at the beginning, I completely depended on the Bible. I usually read a passage and tried to open my mind to what God has to say. At least if I’m having a difficult time, I can listen to the words I know God wants me to hear.

The most important question is why is this important? Why can’t we all just pray while we work? Well I’d like you to consider the story of St. Francis of Assisi. He developed a strong prayer life and an incredible ability to listen for God. One day, God told him to “rebuild my Church”. Imagine what would have happened if Francis had not decided to have a personal prayer life before that point… if he was not able to listen. God has something to tell each and every one of us… but we have to be ready to listen when he does.