Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God (CCC 2559). Prayer also is the acting out of the virtue of religion which consists in asking proper gifts or graces from God. Prayer comes from the heart. It goes beyond our minds and takes place in the deepest recesses of our souls. It’s something that changes us from within because it’s an encounter with the living God living within us. It involves a complete surrender of our entire self to God. Prayer is the cornerstone of the Christian life, the secret of every triumph of every saint and the one practice that can be universally advised at all times and in every occasion. St. Paul tells us in 1Thessalonians 5:17: “Pray without Ceasing!”
“If you have no time to pray, you have no time to be a Christian!”
To invite people to strengthen one’s faith and relationship with God to become true disciples of Jesus Christ!
• Worship & Stewardship
Jesus is always listening to our prayers and answers them, but not always the way we want them answered. I pray every day for my family and my friends and anything life throws at me. I pray for the homeless and the people in poverty that they find help.
When I was little, I used to pray to God for answers. I don’t think that God gives us answers. He does give us hope and strength to find them for ourselves. He gives us determination when we are lost, a light at the end of the tunnel when we are consumed by darkness. Everyone prays for things. God doesn’t always give those things to us. And even though he doesn’t give us everything we ask for, he does give us a future to put those gifts he does give us in. – Annie.
Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.
"Pray without ceasing" - Thessalonians 5:17
"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." - St. Therese of Lisieux
"Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God." - St. John Damascene
"It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without heart." - Mahatma Gandhi
"Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him." - St. Augustine
"Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of Containing God's gift of himself." - Mother Theresa
"Do not make prayer a monologue...make it a conversation." - Author Unknown
"Prayer is the song of the heart. It reaches the ear of God even if it is mingled with the cry and tumult of a thousand men." - Kahlil Gibran
".....a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer." - para. 2558 Catechism of the Catholic Church
"Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." - St. Augustine
"Pray as you can, not as you can't." - Dom Chapman
"Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself." - St. John Vianney
"The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of God to whom we pray." - Julian of Norwich
"Do not forget that the value and interest of life is not so much to do conspicuous things ...as to do ordinary things with the perception of their enormous value." - Teilhard de Chardin
"I believe that it is impossible to grasp all the different forms of prayer without great purity of heart and soul. There are as many forms of prayer as there are states of soul. A person pays in a certain manner when cheerful and in another when weighed down by sadness or a sense of hopelessness. When one is flourishing spiritually, prayer is different from when one is oppressed by the extent of one's struggles." - John Cassian
"Therefore, when you decide to undertake this work of prayer and feel by grace that you are called by God, lift up your heart to God with a meek stirring of Love." - Cloud of Unknowing
"If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is 'thank you' that would suffice." - Meister Eckhart
"Prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God." -Teresa of Avila
"A generous prayer is never presented in vain; the petition may be refused, but the petitioner is always, I believe, rewarded by some gracious visitation." - Robert Louis Stevenson
"The wish to pray is a prayer in itself." - Georges Bernanos
"Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul." - Mahatma Gandhi
"Prayer is not an old woman's amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action." - Mahatma Gandhi
"Any concern too small to be turned into prayer is too small to be made into a burden." - Corrie Ten Bloom
"God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer." - Mother Teresa
"And so I urge you: carry on an ongoing conversation with God about the daily stuff of life, a little like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. For now, do not worry about 'proper' praying, just talk to God." - Richard J. Foster
"Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines." - Satchel Paige
"Prayer, then, is a matter of our participating in the life of Jesus Christ." - Michael Casey
"The value of persistent prayer is not that God will hear us, but that we will finally hear God." - William McGill
"Work as if everything depends on you. Pray as if everything depends on God." - St. Ignatius Loyola
"Give me faith, Lord, and let me help others find it." - Leo Tolstoy
"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." - Matthew 5:44
"True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance. It is far deeper than that. It is a spiritual transaction with the creator of Heaven and Earth." - Charles Spurgeon
"A beginner must look on himself as one setting out to make a garden for his Lord's pleasure, on most unfruitful soil which abounds in weeds. His majesty roots up the weeds and will put in good plants instead. Let us reckon that this is already done when the soul decides to practice prayer and has begun to do so." - Saint Teresa of Avila
"Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night." - George Herbert
"There is variation in our prayer because we look toward God from different vantage points. Our situation changes; we develop and are subjected to a range of external factors. Our situation can also change because we deliberately choose to seek further into the mystery of God." - Michael Casey
"The wish to pray is a prayer in itself." - Georges Bernanos