Tag: Prayer

5 min read

Prayer

Prayer as Petition

Barb Szyszkiewicz

January 21, 2023 7:00 am January 21, 2023

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5 min read

“Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God” (Phil 4:6-7). Prayer of petition, quite simply, is asking for…

“Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God” (Phil 4:6-7).

Prayer of petition, quite simply, is asking for God’s help. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus encourages us to place our needs before God in prayer. In giving us the Lord’s Prayer (Mt 6:9-13), Jesus instructs us to ask God for what we need, trusting that God both knows our needs and loves us enough to give us what is good for us. “Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him” (Mt 7:9-11).

At the same time, Jesus emphasizes in the Lord’s Prayer that we need to express, along with our needs, our willingness to accept God’s will. Jesus, in his own prayer at Gethsemane, offers an example of how to pray this way: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will, but yours, be done” (Lk 22:42).

In all humility, we reach out to God, knowing that he is the source of all good things, including forgiveness. Prayers of contrition, expressing sorrow for our sins and asking for God’s mercy, help to bring us back into communion with God and each other, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (see No. 2631). Psalms 51 and 130 are beautiful expressions of prayers of contrition. In the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Lk 18:9-14), the prayer, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” is a humble prayer of contrition.

Many of the psalms are prayers of petition, often including themes of contrition (Psalms 51 and 130, for example) and need for protection (Psalms 4, 6, 10, 13, and 17, among many others). Some psalms, such as 94, 98, 99, 137, and 147, also express anticipation of the coming of God’s Kingdom, just as Jesus echoes, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven” (Mt 6:10).

Prayers of petition are often very spontaneous: “God, help me!” Even if we feel far from God, we are able, in our supplication, to turn to him for help. Every need, the Catechism reminds us, “can become the object of petition” (No. 2633). We should not be afraid to approach God to entrust him with our needs, in ordinary times as well as desperate ones. Bringing these needs to God is a humble way to acknowledge his goodness, kindness, power, and mercy. Even in the most difficult times, when “God, help me!” or “God, help us!” is as much as we can muster, we are encouraged to ask for God’s help.

We are also encouraged to persevere in this kind of prayer. In the parable of the persistent widow (Lk 18:1-8), Jesus underscores the need to “pray always without becoming weary.” God hears and answers those who have faith, and that faith is shown in our determination not to give up when our prayer is not answered immediately or in the way we expect.

Where do we see this in the Mass?

One of the first things we do at Mass is pray for God’s mercy and forgiveness of our sins during the Penitential Act. Just before the Eucharistic Prayer, we petition God to accept and bless the gifts we offer to him. One of the options for the Memorial Acclamation contains a prayer of petition: “Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.” The Lord’s Prayer and Lamb of God are both prayers of petition, as is our prayer after the Lamb of God: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” By the time we approach the altar to receive the Lord in the Eucharist, we have prayed for God’s mercy at least four times.

3 practical ways to pray this way

Pray an Act of Contrition every day.
When you pray in petition, be sure to close with the Lord’s Prayer or simply the words, “your will be done.”
Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet, a prayer of trust in the Lord and the power of his mercy.

What do the saints say about prayer of petition?

“God bestows many things on us out of His liberality, even without our asking for them: but that He wishes to bestow certain things on us at our asking, is for the sake of our good, namely, that we may acquire confidence in having recourse to God, and that we may recognize in Him the Author of our goods.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica)

Barb Szyszkiewicz, a Secular Franciscan, is editor at CatholicMom.com and author of “The Handy Little Guide to Prayer” (OSV, $5.95). Read more from the prayer series here.

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6 min read

Prayer

Nine Days of Prayer: Why Pray Novenas?

Karen Edmisten

January 16, 2023 11:48 pm January 16, 2023

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6 min read

Imagine this: With some trepidation about their future, a small band of people with a newfound faith commit to a period of intense prayer, out of obedience to their spiritual…

Imagine this: With some trepidation about their future, a small band of people with a newfound faith commit to a period of intense prayer, out of obedience to their spiritual master. He has left them seemingly on their own, promising something big on the horizon.

After they follow their leader’s instructions for nine days, God answers their prayers by acting in a singularly dramatic, transformative way. And the world is never the same again.

That’s precisely what happened to Our Lady, the apostles and the other early disciples of Our Lord. After His ascension they prayed, waited and perhaps even felt some anxiety over “losing” Him again.

But they also trusted and persevered. In the end, He rewarded them on the Day of Pentecost with the coming of the Advocate He had promised, the Holy Spirit (see Acts 1:1–2:4).

Jesus had instructed His followers to pray, and they obeyed. They were not disappointed.

Those nine days of prayer can be seen as the model for the Catholic tradition of the novena. A novena (from the Latin novem, “nine”) is a prayer, or set of prayers, prayed for nine days, hours, weeks or even months.

It is often prayed for a specific intention or grace and may be directed to particular saints for their intercession.

Sometimes non-Catholics, and even a few Catholics, may ask, “Why should we pray novenas?” The short answer is simply that Jesus Christ calls us to pray. In fact, He tells us to “pray always without becoming weary” (Lk 18:1), to pray with persistence.

We’ll never go wrong when we obey Christ. He promises that prayer works, and He often responds with electrifying results.

But that’s only the first, most fundamental reason why we should pray novenas. A look at the history of this tradition provides ample encouragement for making it a personal practice.

Historical Background

Over the centuries, four specific types of novenas have emerged: novenas for mourning, preparation, petition and indulgences.

Novenas of mourning are the earliest type. They probably grew out of an early Christian custom of offering nine days of Masses for the departed. The global Church witnessed such a novena in 2005 with the death of Pope John Paul II.

Preparation novenas are joyful and anticipatory. They look toward major feasts (such as a Christmas novena) or celebrate the founder of a religious order.

Novenas of petition developed historically among the laity. They most likely originated as petitions for good health and eventually became generalized to include requests for other needs as well. For instance, a novena to St. Hubert, for protection against madness caused by a dog bite, was first prayed in medieval times and is still prayed today.

Many other novenas of prayer, directed to saints for special intentions, have proliferated over time.

The final type of novena, the novena for indulgences, overlaps with the others. The Church offers partial and plenary indulgences for more than 30 novenas, including one of the most recent, the Divine Mercy novena.

If the Church has not only approved and recommended a variety of novenas, but has also designated certain novenas as a prerequisite for an indulgence, we can be sure that these prayers are much more than just an instance of popular piety.

The Church recognizes the special value of the novena, whose form is particularly suited to overcome certain tendencies of our fallen human nature.

Boon to Prayer Life

We concupiscent human beings tend toward laziness. Countering that tendency, the repetitive form of the novena can serve to intensify and reinforce our prayer life. It forms a habit of persevering prayer in those of us who, left to our own devices, may fall away from prayer despite the best intentions.

Fallen human beings also tend toward rebellion. We balk at being told what to do. But following a divine prescription such as a novena can be the perfect remedy for such rebelliousness.

In praying a prescribed set of prayers, for a prescribed length of time, we are drawn out of ourselves and our vanities and into prayerful concentration and obedience. In this way, our prayer time is kept on track, becoming more focused by observing a set form.

A novena can also release us from a false attitude that we are somehow in control of a situation and its outcome through our prayers for a desired result.

With its repeated appeal to divine aid, the novena recognizes that we are helpless without God, and that control of the situation is squarely in His hands.

We are like the desperate widow in Jesus’ parable who repeatedly asked the judge for help — whose humble, persistent petitions the Lord offers as a model in prayer (see Lk 18:1-7).

To suggest that with a novena we relinquish (rather than make a play for) control may contradict popular perceptions. After all, some novenas actually promise “never to fail” should we meticulously follow their directions.

Of course, such instructions (always tacked on anonymously) are little more than superstition. Novenas are not magic and cannot manipulate the Divine Will. After praying in a specific way for a specific number of days, we are no more in control than we were at the start.

Instead, we receive from God a result of His own choosing. Our part is simply to demonstrate faithfulness in our commitment to prayer.

That’s not to say, of course, that novenas aren’t powerful. They certainly are, as is any faithfully attended prayer. A novena may even lead to miraculous results.

So, even though the specific, “guaranteed” promises attached to a number of novenas needn’t be taken literally, they do reflect the confidence in this approach to petition that has grown through the experiences of millions who have received answers to their prayers.

Novenas Work

In short, novenas work, and we should pray them because they are a valuable form of conversation with God and His saints. They flow from faith, and God always attends to the prayers of His faithful.

We may or may not get what we want. But as we pray novenas, we are praising, preparing, waiting and trusting. And we will be rewarded, just as Christ’s first disciples were, in whatever way God sees fit.

Perhaps, then, what “never fails” when we pray a novena is that we always grow in faithful perseverance. And again, like the first disciples, we will not be disappointed.

Karen Edmisten is the author of “The Rosary: Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary” (St. Anthony Messenger, 2009).

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7 min read

Prayer

Why Do We Pray Before Meals?

Patricia Kasten

December 7, 2022 7:13 am December 7, 2022

7 min read

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7 min read

What’s your favorite food? Fried chicken? A juicy steak? Scrambled eggs? Not infrequently, Americans gather around a bountiful table of meat, potatoes, vegetables and desserts. And many of them do…

What’s your favorite food? Fried chicken? A juicy steak? Scrambled eggs?

Not infrequently, Americans gather around a bountiful table of meat, potatoes, vegetables and desserts. And many of them do so with prayer and expressions of gratitude for gifts received.

While we might take such a moment of prayer for granted, do you ever think of eating as a time of worship? Maybe you should.

Most of us learned to pray before meals a long time ago. Parents teach their small children to pray before meals and, sometimes, even after meals. Such prayer before meals is sometimes called “grace,” as in, “Let’s say grace,” coming from the Latin word gratia, meaning “thanks.”

Ancient Tradition

Why do we pray over our meals? Because we, as a community of believers, learned it a long time ago.

The custom of praying over a meal is ancient in our faith tradition. Even before Jesus — who prayed over the gifts of the Last Supper and over the gifts at the multiplication of the loaves and fish — ancient Jews prayed over their meals.

They did so in gratitude both for the food and for the land which the Lord had given them.

In Deuteronomy 8:10, we see the ancient order given to prayer at meals attributed to Moses: “But when you have eaten and are satisfied, you must bless the Lord, your God, for the good land he has given you.” Modern Jews call this the Birkat HaMazon (“blessing on nourishment”).

Following this tradition, as well as the custom of Jesus’ own meal prayers, early Christians offered prayer over their own meals. Several early Church Fathers cited the need to pray before meals, both in thanksgiving and as part of the natural desire to worship God. For example, Tertullian, who lived and wrote in the early third century, noted in his treatise “On Prayer” that “it becomes believers not to take food … before interposing a prayer; for the refreshments and nourishments of the spirit are to be held prior to those of the flesh, and things heavenly prior to things earthly” (Chapter 25).

Thanks from a Pope

Our familiar meal prayer today — “Bless us, O Lord” — dates back to the Gelasian Sacramentary, named for Pope Gelasius, who led the Church at the end of the fifth century, but who did not write this liturgical book.

Nonetheless, the book dates back to at least the eighth century and from it we have the roots of this prayer.

Short though it is, our blessing prayer contains three of the four following main types of prayer: gratitude, supplication, praise and contrition. We can break the meal prayer down into these specific prayer parts:

Supplication: “Bless us, O Lord”

Gratitude: “and these, thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty,”

Praise: “through Christ our Lord, Amen.”

That’s a lot of prayer, handled in just a few words. The Dictionary of the Liturgy describes a good meal prayer as something that “usually includes a request for His blessing on the food and the group present, together with gratitude to the Lord for His gifts and an expression of our total dependence upon Him even for food and drink…. In this fashion, the mealtime … becomes an act of worship.”

That covers supplications, gratitude and praise (as in worship). But wait? Where is the “dependence” part of our “Bless us, O Lord”?

That comes in the act of praying itself. By taking time, before eating, to ask God’s blessing, we show that we know how much we need His care — not only to bring us the food, but to let it nourish us and bring us health and well-being.

Meals Parallel Mass

Our simple meal prayer, said in a homelike setting, follows the pattern of our worship in church at Mass: prayers of praise, supplication and gratitude; expressions of faithful dependence upon God; the desire to do better as we are strengthened by the sacred meal. Then, fed and nourished, we are sent out from the church building to bring the worship of God into everyday life.

Meal prayer is one way to do this: It keeps us linked to the never-ending daily prayer of the Church and reminds us of the sacred meal that Jesus left for us, to be shared in community, until He comes again.

Most of all, prayer at meals puts us in God’s presence on a regular basis. By praying at meals we daily remind ourselves our proper place in the plan of creation: we are stewards of God and disciples of Christ.

The U.S. bishops, in their 1992 pastoral on stewardship (“Stewardship A Disciple’s Response”), said: “Jesus’ disciples and Christian stewards recognize God as the origin of life, giver of freedom and source of all things. We are grateful for the gifts we have received and are eager to use them to show our love for God and one another.”

Offering prayer at daily meals shows gratitude and an eager response to God’s love as it is poured out on us and on all those with whom we share “our bounty through Christ our Lord” — including scrambled eggs and turkey dinners.

Patricia Kasten is associate editor at The Compass, the newspaper of the Diocese of Green Bay.

Prayers Before Meals in the Early Church

Thou, Master almighty, didst create all things for Thy name’s sake; You gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us You didst freely give spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant.
— Didache, first century

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
— 1 Corinthians 10:31

Before taking nourishment it is fitting to praise the Creator of all things, and it is fitting also to sing His praises when we take as nourishment the things created by Him.
— Clement of Alexandria, The Pedagogue, II.4

Our repasts are in nothing vile or immodest. We do not recline until we have prayed to God. In like manner prayer concludes the feast.
— Tertullian, Apol., xxxi

We give Thee thanks, our Father, for the Resurrection which Thou hast manifested to us through Jesus, Thy Son; and even as this bread which is here on this table was formerly scattered abroad and has been made compact and one, so may Thy Church be reunited from the ends of the earth for Thy Kingdom, for Thine is the power and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
— Attributed to St. Athanasius, from a fourth-century formula

The merciful and compassionate Lord has given nourishment to those who fear Him. Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and forever and throughout the ages. Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose name is above all things, we give Thee thanks and praise Thee because Thou hast deigned to give us a portion of Thy goods and nourishment for our body. We pray and beseech Thee to give us in like manner heavenly nourishment. Make us fear and reverence Thy law and Thy terrible and glorious name, and grant that we may never disobey Thy precepts. Write in our hearts Thy law and Thy justice. Sanctify our mind, our soul and our body through Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom with Thee belongs glory, dominion, honor and adoration for ever and ever. Amen.
— Attributed to St. Athanasius, from a fourth-century formula

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1 min read

Advent

St. Andrew Christmas Novena

Michael Heinlein

December 4, 2022 5:21 pm December 4, 2022

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The St. Andrew Christmas Novena, also known as the Christmas Anticipation Prayer, begins on the feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle on Nov. 30, and lasts until Dec. 24….

The St. Andrew Christmas Novena, also known as the Christmas Anticipation Prayer, begins on the feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle on Nov. 30, and lasts until Dec. 24. Tradition says the prayer should be recited 15 times each day. It is a beautiful, evocative and meditative Advent prayer.

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires (mention your intentions here), through the merits of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother.
Amen.

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5 min read

Prayer

Prayer as intercession

Barb Szyszkiewicz

December 1, 2022 8:19 am December 1, 2022

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5 min read

“Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord,…

“Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven” (Jm 5:14-15).

Through intercessory prayer, we bring someone else’s needs before God, trusting God to take care of others, whether they are loved ones, friends, enemies, or total strangers. Praying for the living and the dead is one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy.

Intercessory prayer is a powerful way to support others spiritually. This can be done in a general way — as when we pray for the faithful departed, the poor or victims of a natural disaster — or specifically by praying for a particular person by name. We may not be in a position to help others in a particular way every time a need is expressed, but we are always given the opportunity to pray for them.

God knows our cares and concerns and wants us to entrust those to him. The Gospel stories of the healing of Jairus’ daughter (Lk 8:40-42,49-56), the man born deaf (Mk 7:31-37), and the paralytic lowered by his friends through the roof of the house where Jesus was staying (Mk 2:1-12) all speak to the faith of people who approach God. These are not concerned with what they want for themselves, but with the needs of someone else. In the story of the paralytic, for example, it was the faith of the man’s friends that led Jesus to cure the man (Mk 2:5).

Young children can learn to intercede for others in prayer as part of a family prayer routine that includes “God bless Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa …”, and such a litany is an excellent way to help children understand the importance of praying for other people. But praying for others is not something we should stop doing as we grow into adulthood. We are always encouraged to pray for others, ultimately entrusting their needs to God’s will.

At the end of the Book of Job, Eliphaz the Temanite was seeking God’s forgiveness and was directed by God to seek Job’s prayers as intercession. “Go to my servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves, and let my servant Job pray for you. To him I will show favor and not punish your folly for you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job” (Job 42:8). We, too, can become “prayer warriors” for our family and friends: people who can be counted on to pray for their needs immediately and consistently.

In the story of Job, we see that intercessory prayer is not only effective, but it can benefit the one who does the praying. Job, who prayed for others despite his personal trials, grew in humility and selflessness and was ultimately rewarded when the Lord restored his fortunes (Job 42:10). When we ask God to have mercy on someone else, we too can develop greater mercy and humility.

Just as we might pray for someone in need, whether a loved one, friend, or stranger, we can also call upon the saints in heaven to pray for them as well — or for our own needs. We know that the saints are in the presence of God, and we believe that they care for us. As Pope St. Paul VI observed, “We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are attaining their purification, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion the merciful love of God and His saints is ever listening to our prayers” (Solemni Hac Liturgia, No. 30).

In the Gospels, we are clearly instructed not only to pray for our loved ones, but even to pray on behalf of those who harm us. Jesus commands us, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father” (Mt 5:44-45). Even at his crucifixion, Jesus prayed for the ones who put him to death: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). St. Stephen, the first martyr, echoed this prayer at the moment of his own death when he prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60).

Where do we see this in the Mass?

The Universal Prayer, or “Prayer of the Faithful,” brings the needs of the Church and the community, even including the faithful departed, before God. During the Eucharistic Prayer, we pray for the universal Church, including the pope and our bishop, and remember the faithful departed, praying that God will welcome them to heaven.

3 practical ways to pray this way:

Pray an Intentional Rosary. Designate a special intention for each decade, or even each bead, of the Rosary.
Keep a list of prayer intentions in a journal. Make a habit of regular prayer for those in your list.
Place a picture of someone for whose needs you’re praying, or a card with their name, in your Bible or prayer book. Pray for that person every time you see it.

What do the saints say about intercessory prayer?

“How pleasing to Him it will be if you sometimes forget yourself and speak to Him of His own glory, of the miseries of others, especially those who mourn in sorrow; of the souls in purgatory, His spouses, who long to behold Him in Heaven; and of poor sinners who live deprived of His grace” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, How to Pray at All Times).

Barb Szyszkiewicz, a Secular Franciscan, is editor at CatholicMom.com and author of “The Handy Little Guide to Prayer” (OSV, $5.95). Read more from the prayer series here.

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2 min read

Saints

What is St. Gertrude’s Prayer?

Msgr. William J. King

November 12, 2022 11:25 am November 12, 2022

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2 min read

Pious tradition holds that Jesus promised St. Gertrude that a thousand souls would be released from purgatory each time the following prayer is said devoutly: “Eternal Father, I offer You…

Pious tradition holds that Jesus promised St. Gertrude that a thousand souls would be released from purgatory each time the following prayer is said devoutly: “Eternal Father, I offer You the Most Precious Blood of Your Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.”

In His revelation to St. Gertrude, Jesus did not attach conditions to the recitation of this prayer, and He did not specify added requirements. In fulfillment of His promise, the mercy shown to sinners in response to this intercessory prayer is a direct gift from God.

An indulgence, on the other hand, is an action of the Church in fulfillment of the promise of Jesus in Matthew 18:18: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” An indulgence is remission of the temporal punishment due to sins. According to Pope Paul VI in Indulgentiarum Doctrina (an apostolic constitution discussing indulgences), indulgences are either plenary or partial. There are four conditions for receiving a plenary indulgence: to have an interior disposition of complete detachment from sin; to have sacramentally confessed sins; to receive the holy Eucharist; and to have prayed for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. According to the Vatican’s Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, which has competence, or jurisdiction, regarding indulgences, these conditions must be met within a period of “about 20 days.”

Devout recitation of the above prayer does not convey an indulgence, but instead invokes the mercy of God directly, and therefore it does not require the fulfillment of conditions attached to an indulgence. The prayer, devoutly offered, is sufficient in itself.

Rev. Msgr. William J. King is a priest of the Diocese of Harrisburg.

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