Prayer is communication with God. This includes God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Prayer is ESSENTIAL to a good relationship with God and growth in your spiritual life.

Prayer takes many forms. As Catholics we are familiar with the Our Father, Hail Mary Glory Be, and Apostle’s Creed. These structured prayers are great methods to communicate with God or in the case of the Hail Mary, ask Mary for her intercession between Jesus her Son and us.

These prayers are a solid rock upon which to build our prayer time. Other types of prayers to incorporate include the Rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy and any of the prayers found in Catholic prayer books, including the Office of Readings.

Other types of prayer can be simple communication between God and yourself, as if you were talking with a friend. After all God is our Father, Jesus our ?Brother? and the Holy Spirit the intercessor?

Scripture is the word of God. Scripture can be easily incorporated into our prayer time.

How to Pray

To help pray it is best to eliminate distractions that surround us. Turn off the tv, radio, computer and find a quiet room. Often a candle can be used to focus our thoughts and symbolize the light of Christ. Ensure that you are not in a situation where you may fall asleep. To help remove distractions from your mind, have a pad and pen handy in order to write down things you need to take care of when you are done praying.

Begin prayer however you feel comfortable. This could be done by using any of the prayer techniques mentioned above. As you grow in your prayer life, try to incorporate these types of prayer together in your prayer time. No matter which one you use to begin when:

-	reading the Bible, meditating on the words that you have read, try to understand how these words apply to you and your life. Often with reading scripture it is important to put the words into context. Read your Bible’s introduction to your chapter, or find another source that helps clarify this, and keep this in mind while you read. If you need help, start with something simple, say the Gospel of John.
-	praying familiar prayers, the Our Father, Hail Mary and so forth try to concentrate on the words of the prayer. It is easy to ramble off a prayer without thinking, but a prayer becomes more meaningful when you think about the words and try to understand how they apply to your life. If you are praying the Rosary try to concentrate on each of the mysteries. Focus on what the members of the Holy Family were dealing with at the time of the mystery. It is common for each mystery of the Rosary being prayed to be offered up for an intention. I.e. the repose of someone’s soul, someone’s illness, etc.
-	having a conversation with God try to calm your mind. Imagine yourself in a quiet and comfortable place that is familiar to you. Imagine Jesus coming up to you. Then talk to Him like you would an old friend. Thank Him for what He has done in your life – for you today, and feel free to ask Him for help.

It is important to incorporate several aspects into your prayer life. Often prayers may tend to be focused on what you want or need, but that is ignoring important aspects of our faith. When you pray:

-	praise God! Thank Him for helping you pass the exam, avoiding an accident, for the health of your mom and dad, your friends, and what ever your heart desires!
-	apologize for what wrongs you have done. Think of the day and try to remember the wrongs you have done to God and to those around you. If you have committed a sin, especially a mortal sin, attend the Sacrament of Reconciliation as soon as possible.
-	make prayer requests to God. As Him to help you draw closer to you, ask Him to bless your mother who is sick, pray for the soul of your aunt who passed away, pray for your friend who is struggling with their faith, pray so that you may do well on your university exams, pray for guidance in your life. Ask God to help you with the struggles you face from day to day, because by giving our weaknesses to Jesus we are made strong.

It is always important to remember the sacrifice of Jesus, who is God, dying on the cross for our sins. And through His resurrection gives us the opportunity to enter into Heaven. This helps us maintain a perspective on our prayer. Prayer can be compared to our relationship with our own father, asking him for help, allowance, thanking him for help with our math homework. But, the relationship / comparison with God in our lives is infinitely deeper.

Try to set a prayer schedule, so that you pray at a regular time, on a regular basis. This could be first thing in the morning when you wake up, when you come home from work, or just before bed. Challenge yourself to pray more and more. If you are praying 10 minutes a day, add on 5 minutes during that month, and 5 minutes the next month, until you feel that you are comfortable with your prayer time.

You can pray throughout the day, not just during your prayer time. It is a challenge but a great benefit to continually pray to God throughout the day. These can be through some of the prayers mentioned above, or through praying the simple prayers mentioned below. Prayer helps you stay focused on God.

Little prayers include:
- “Jesus, I trust in You.”
- “Lord, help my unbelief.”
- “Lord, have mercy on me.”

You can do simple things to incorporate prayer into your everyday life. This can be done simply by recognizing God in everyday events. Thank God for the person you just met. Thank God for the person who just gave you a parking spot. Thank God for a good day at work. Thank God for a phone call with a friend.

The Sacraments of the Church are forms of prayer. This includes attending Mass, going to Confession, and all other Sacraments. These Sacraments, especially attending Mass brings you closer to God, physically and spiritually.

If this seems overwhelming, keep in mind this is just something to keep in mind. If something appeals to you, try it and incorporate it into your prayer life. Don’t overload yourself, let your prayer life grow as fast as you are comfortable with. But, as with your faith, don’t let it sit and become stagnant, challenge yourself to grow!

At some point in your spiritual journey you should consider finding a spiritual director. Someone knowledgeable in the faith that can help you with important decisions in your life and provide a balanced perspective on decisions you have to make.

Pray is integral with being Catholic. Someone once said, missing prayer once is an accident – it happens, missing prayer twice – it was a bad day, but missing prayer three times is a habit. And this is a habit to avoid! As the saying goes, “Pray Hard!”