Tag: Prayer

5 min read

Liturgy

Critical Moments: How should Catholics pray before and after Mass?

Amy Troolin

September 9, 2022 6:01 am September 9, 2022

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5 min read

It happens every Sunday. Parishioners scurry into their pews moments before Mass begins. A few sneak in during the opening song or even the first reading, hoping that no one…

It happens every Sunday. Parishioners scurry into their pews moments before Mass begins.

A few sneak in during the opening song or even the first reading, hoping that no one will notice. After Communion, the church is noticeably emptier than it was only minutes before. Several members of the congregation have slipped out the door to hurry off to their next activity. Many others bolt to their cars after the final blessing or file into the parish hall for coffee, donuts and friendly conversation.

Catholics who neglect to arrive early at Mass and hesitate to stay late are missing out on critical moments they could be using to cultivate their spiritual lives and grow in their relationship with God. Taking a few minutes for silent prayer before and after Mass can help Massgoers focus their attention, prepare their hearts for worship, express their gratitude and carry their experience of God back into their daily lives.

Zeroing in on God

Human minds wander. At one moment, a person is devoutly focused on singing the praises of God in the Gloria. In the next, she is thinking about what she would like to have for lunch. These lapses in attention happen to everyone from time to time, but they can be minimized by designating a few minutes before Mass to quiet the mind and zero in on God.

Begin by simply greeting God and reciting a few familiar prayers — perhaps the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be — to direct the mind toward the divine. Set before the Lord anything that is troubling or burdensome, and surrender it to His all-powerful care. Examine your conscience and repent of any sins that might be weighing heavily upon it. Lift up family, friends and acquaintances to the Lord and place them in His loving protection. Let go of anything that might distract the mind from offering God full praise, devout prayer and reverent worship over the next 60 minutes.

Now that the mind is focused on God, it is time to prepare the heart to worship Him. Focus especially on what is about to happen in the Mass. Recall that the lector and deacon or priest will be reading from the inspired and inerrant Word of God. Remember that Jesus is going to be really present — body, blood, soul and divinity — in the Eucharist. Recollect that this Eucharistic Jesus will come in a highly intimate way to each and every person who receives Him in holy Communion during the next hour.

Most importantly, ask God for help. Ask Him for the attention and devotion necessary to pray and worship well during Mass. Ask Him for the grace to receive Him worthily in holy Communion. He will always respond graciously and powerfully to an open, longing, loving heart.

Moments of Thanksgiving

When Father says, “Go forth, the Mass is ended,” do not take that as a cue to dash out the church door as quickly as possible. Instead, when the closing hymn ends, remain in the pew for a few minutes to bask in the intimate presence of the Eucharistic Jesus and to thank God for the great gifts He has just provided in the Mass.

Express heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity to worship with the saints and angels; to hear God’s Word solemnly proclaimed; to witness the sacred moment of consecration when Jesus became truly present on the altar under the appearance of bread and wine; and to receive the Lord of heaven and earth in holy Communion.

Do not rush through these moments of thanksgiving. God has given His very Self to His people in this Mass; the least His people can do in return is give Him thanks.

Before returning to the activities and cares of daily life, spend a few moments placing these in God’s hands. Beg Him for a share of His overflowing love and the courage to spread it everywhere throughout the coming week. Ask Him for grace to avoid sin. Tell Him about difficulties at work or at home, and ask Him for solutions. Talk to Him about troubled relationships, and ask for His guidance toward reconciliation. Recall and obey the comforting command of 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.”

Practical Tips

For many Catholics, taking time to pray before and after Mass requires some adjustment and effort, at least at first. The following suggestions might help:

1. Get up 15 minutes earlier on Sunday mornings or start getting ready for Mass 15 minutes earlier on Saturday evenings. Then, be ready to leave for Mass 15 minutes earlier than normal.

2. To avoid feeling rushed, do not schedule any activities until at least a half-hour after Mass.

3. Make a firm commitment. Spiritual growth requires discipline, but God rewards His people’s efforts thirtyfold, sixtyfold and even a hundredfold (see Mt 13:8).

4. Invite others to pray. Sharing a prayer commitment with family, friends and fellow parishioners provides necessary motivation and support.

5. Do not fret about distractions during prayer before and after Mass. Gently guide the mind back to prayer whenever it wanders.

Pope Paul VI once called the Mass “the most perfect form of prayer.” Indeed, during holy Mass, God deepens and broadens His intimacy with His people as He speaks His Word to their hearts and nourishes their souls with the Eucharist. Is it not fitting, then, that Catholics should prepare carefully and thoroughly for this tremendous encounter with God? And is it not fitting that Catholics should express their gratitude for such an encounter? By spending time with God in prayer during those critical moments before and after Mass, Catholics will better appreciate the great gift of this most perfect prayer and, more importantly, grow ever closer to the Giver.

Amy Troolin is a freelance writer from Minnesota. She holds a master’s degree in theology and Christian ministry from Franciscan University of Steubenville.

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3 min read

Prayer

What Is A Chaplet?

Father Francis Hoffman

September 1, 2022 7:51 am September 1, 2022

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3 min read

A chaplet is a personal devotional prayer that can be prayed privately or in a group, out loud or silently, in a church or in an ordinary setting. It could…

A chaplet is a personal devotional prayer that can be prayed privately or in a group, out loud or silently, in a church or in an ordinary setting. It could be prayed on a plane, in a train, on a bike or a hike. It could even be sung with or without musical accompaniment, in Latin, Greek or in the vernacular. There are different types of chaplets, and the two most common are the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Typically, prayer beads (rosaries, chaplet bracelets) of different forms (wood, glass, metal, cloth, rope, nylon, even sea shells!) are used by the faithful to keep track of where they are in the prayer. Often these sacramental items are blessed and people carry them in their pocket or hang them off the rearview mirror over the dashboard in their car.

Rosaries and chaplet bracelets — if they are blessed — should be treated with care, even if they are not technically considered sacred. Sometimes people kiss their beads when they pull them out or put them back in their pocket, purse or pouch. Some rosaries even become galleries of saints over time as their owners attach medals of their favorite saints between each decade.

Children tend to be very fond of rosary beads and chaplet bracelets, and often receive them as gifts for their baptism, first Communion or confirmation. However, they are not toys, and children who use rosary beads as handcuffs on their little brothers should be corrected, gently but clearly.

A chaplet is a vocal prayer and can be prayed as a petition, or in adoration, or for motives of thanksgiving, or in reparation for personal sins or the sins of the nation. Typically, a chaplet follows a set sequence of prayers and then repeats those sequences, commonly known as “decades” of ten or seven repetitions. Typically, there are three, five, seven or nine “decades,” and again the most common is the Rosary, which consists of five decades of one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and the Glory Be.

By nature a chaplet is based on repetition, but if the person prays it with attention and devotion it does not have to be repetitious. Repetition does not suggest lack of originality, any more than Beethoven’s Fifth — which states, repeats, inverts and varies the theme — is considered to be repetitious or unoriginal.

Sometimes you hear people criticize devotions such as the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet for being simplistic and boring because the prayers are very common and repeated frequently. But there is nothing boring about a rose in full bloom, even though every petal in the blossom is just like the next.

Down through the ages popes have recommended that the faithful pray the Rosary — every day if possible. That’s what St. John Paul II did, as well as Mother Teresa and Padre Pio.

Since a Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet is a personal devotional, it can always be accommodated to fit the need and the circumstances of the situation. Many have discovered that, while the Rosary is made up of simple prayers — the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be — these prayers are very powerful. After all, the Our Father (the Lord’s Prayer) was given to us by Jesus Christ himself; the Hail Mary by an archangel, St. Elizabeth and the Church; and the Glory Be is rooted in the Old Testament angelic praises from the Book of Daniel. It would be difficult to improve on those prayers!

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5 min read

Prayer

Devotional Prayer

Barb Szyszkiewicz

August 30, 2022 8:18 am August 30, 2022

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5 min read

“Devotions promote the faith of the people” (St. John Paul II) Rosaries, chaplets, novenas, the Stations of the Cross, the Angelus, grace before meals, the veneration of relics, and sacramentals:…

“Devotions promote the faith of the people” (St. John Paul II)

Rosaries, chaplets, novenas, the Stations of the Cross, the Angelus, grace before meals, the veneration of relics, and sacramentals: all of these are related to devotional prayer. These practices often grow out of a local or cultural interest in and devotion to a particular aspect of Christ’s life, of the Blessed Virgin or a special saint, season, or feast of the Church.

You can engage in devotional prayer on your own or with a group. In many parishes, you will find groups who remain in the church after Mass each day to pray the Rosary, a chaplet, or a novena. Or you may find a solitary person visiting each of the Stations of the Cross and stopping to pray briefly before each one. There are even apps for devotional prayer: with a smartphone, you can virtually join others in praying novenas, Rosaries, chaplets, and other devotions, either by reading the prayer or listening to live or recorded audio.

Sacramentals “signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them … various occasions in life are rendered holy” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1667). Along with the prayer and sacraments of the Church, sacramentals “prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it” (CCC, No. 1669). Sacramentals can include blessings, exorcisms, and objects such as rosaries, religious medals, relics, scapulars, and holy water. The Sign of the Cross is itself a sacramental (whether or not holy water is used).

Sacramentals are not good luck charms, but are holy objects and actions that help us grow closer to God. Our physical human nature benefits from the use of objects and actions that increase our focus on prayer. Rosaries don’t simply help us count repeated prayers. Holding the rosary in our hands and moving our fingers from bead to bead draws our attention away from what’s going on around us and helps us concentrate on the life of Christ through the four sets of mysteries the Church calls us to contemplate.

In the encyclical Mediator Dei, Venerable Pope Pius XII observed that devotional prayer helps to direct our souls to God, encourages us to practice virtue, purifies us from sins, and helps us advance in holiness. Most importantly, the spiritual benefits we can reap from this type of prayer help us pray more fruitfully during liturgical celebrations.

Some types of devotional prayer, such as novenas (nine days of prayer to a particular intercessor for a special intention) and the Nine First Fridays devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Five First Saturdays devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary involve reciting devotional prayers for a certain number of days. These devotions are not superstitious practices, but are an exercise of perseverance in prayer, a practice Jesus encouraged. In the parable of the persistent widow, Jesus teaches, “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them?” (Lk 18:7).

We are encouraged to take part in prayerful devotions that “harmonize with the liturgical seasons, are in some way derived from it, and lead the people to it” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 13). For example, it is customary in some cultures to bless the home at Epiphany; this seasonal devotion involves the whole family in prayer, and includes these sacramentals: Sign of the Cross, holy water, and blessed chalk for inscribing the initials of the Magi and the date on the doorpost of the home. At many parishes, devotional prayers after Mass vary by the day of the week associated with particular saints or intentions: Monday: the holy souls in Purgatory; Tuesday: the holy angels or St. Anthony of Padua; Wednesday: St. Joseph; Thursday: the Holy Eucharist; Friday: the Sacred Heart of Jesus; Saturday: the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Because Jesus died on a Friday, some parishes or individuals pray the Stations of the Cross each Friday, or each day during Lent. In October, the Church calls us to focus on the Rosary, and in November, we pray for the holy souls in purgatory. And we pray the Angelus, a daily prayer associated with specific times of day, throughout the year — except during the Easter season, when we pray the Regina Caeli devotional prayer instead.

Through devotional prayer, Catholics sanctify time (time of day, days of the week, and months of the year) as well as observe holy days and liturgical seasons. Devotional prayer allows us to incorporate prayer seamlessly into our daily lives. Children can easily learn devotional prayers and practices, because of their frequent association with physical actions or holy objects as well as their regular (daily, weekly or seasonal) repetition. Devotional prayer allows us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17).

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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1 min read

Prayer

What Is The Memorare?

Father Ray Ryland

August 19, 2022 7:53 am August 19, 2022

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1 min read

The Memorare is a prayer invoking the intercession of our Blessed Mother. Its origins may date from the 12th century, but we know it has been widely used since the…

The Memorare is a prayer invoking the intercession of our Blessed Mother. Its origins may date from the 12th century, but we know it has been widely used since the 17th century. It is appropriate for use at any time, but is especially appropriate during times of difficulty or distress:

“Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. Mother of the Word incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.”

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3 min read

Prayer

Are Sinners’ Prayers Heard?

Msgr. Charles E. Pope

August 9, 2022 10:12 am August 9, 2022

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3 min read

It depends a bit on what is meant by the word “hear.” It can never be argued in a literal sense that God cannot hear something. For nothing escapes God’s…

It depends a bit on what is meant by the word “hear.” It can never be argued in a literal sense that God cannot hear something. For nothing escapes God’s notice, and in no sense could He be said to be incapable of hearing a prayer.

However, if “hear” means that a prayer would be favorably received by God, that is another matter.

Generally, it would seem that God pays little heed to the prayers of unrepentant mortal sinners, though there are surely some exceptions. For example, in Scripture we read, “No, the hand of the Lord is not too short to save, / nor his ear too dull to hear. / Rather, it is your crimes that separate you from God, / It is your sins that make him hide his face / so that he does not hear you” (Is 59:1-2). Or again, “Those who shut their ears to the cry of the poor / will themselves call out and not be answered” (Prv 21:13).

So it would seem that there is a good basis for concluding that unrepentant mortal sinners are going to have a pretty hard time getting their prayers answered as they would like.

However, experience teaches that even mortal sinners do partake of many of God’s blessings. And this, too, Jesus affirms in Scripture: “The [Lord] makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45).

How God chooses to bless or withhold blessings from the unrighteous is therefore not an all or nothing proposition, but is caught up in the mystery of His providence. Perhaps He knows a person will one day repent; perhaps He knows that an answered prayer now will help lead to repentance later. Perhaps, too, He knows that to withhold a blessing is the better course. Thus God remains sovereign in applying wisdom to each situation.

That said, we ought to remain sober about the need to pray in righteousness. For if God cannot trust us with the blessings we already have, why should He trust us with further blessings?

The First Letter of John has some advice about praying with and for those in serious sin: “If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly” (5:15-17). While the instruction of John here is complex, he is saying in effect that, if we are reasonably sure that someone is in serious sin, we ought skip over praying for lesser things like a new job for them, etc. Rather the essential and only really efficacious prayer for them is to pray for their repentance. For to be dead in sins is to rather powerfully block any other blessings.

So, while God can bless even serious sinners, we ought not presuppose that He will do so and make our priority to pray for lifesaving repentance.

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4 min read

Prayer

Prayer as liturgy

Barb Szyszkiewicz

July 24, 2022 7:00 am July 24, 2022

4 min read

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4 min read

“The liturgy is … a participation in Christ’s own prayer addressed to the Father in the Holy Spirit. In the liturgy, all Christian prayer finds its source and goal. Through…

“The liturgy is … a participation in Christ’s own prayer addressed to the Father in the Holy Spirit. In the liturgy, all Christian prayer finds its source and goal. Through the liturgy the inner man is rooted and grounded in ‘the great love with which [the Father] loved us’ in his beloved Son” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1073).

Liturgy, which includes but is not limited to the Holy Mass, is considered “formal” prayer because it follows a certain pattern, or rubric. Liturgical prayer is also “common” prayer, meant to be prayed by the community as a group. Even when circumstances require that liturgical prayer (such as the Liturgy of the Hours) is prayed alone, its established formula means that it is still being prayed in conjunction with anyone else in the world who is also praying. As we have learned during the coronavirus pandemic, a community does not always need to share space in order to share prayer, and we can find creative ways to pray liturgically without being in the same space — the exception being that we generally do not receive the Eucharist when we are not together.

The liturgy of the Church includes the Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, and the celebrations of the sacraments. The Second Vatican Council stated the baptized who share a common faith “should come together to praise God in the midst of his Church, to take part in the Sacrifice and to eat the Lord’s Supper (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 10). As we pray our way through the liturgy, we unite ourselves to the whole Church.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops explains, “The word liturgy comes from a Greek term meaning ‘public work or work done on behalf of the people.’ A work, then, done by an individual or a group was a liturgy on behalf of the larger community. All the worshipers are expected to participate actively in each liturgy, for this is holy ‘work,’ not entertainment or a spectator event. Every liturgical celebration is an action of Christ the High Priest and of his Mystical Body, which is the Church. It therefore requires the participation of the People of God in the work of God.” Liturgical prayer is usually led by an ordained minister, who is configured uniquely to Christ.

Active participation in liturgy does not mean that everyone present has the same role. Bishops, priests and deacons — in addition to those who serve as lectors, altar servers, singers and musicians — participate in different ways from others. In different seasons of our lives, generally we participate differently. Even the person with limited mobility, who might need the priest to bring the Eucharist to their pew, can participate by listening to the readings, homily, and prayers, and by joining the singing of hymns and speaking the responses. Parents of young children may not be able to listen during Mass as well as they’d like, but their participation by helping their children learn to make the Sign of the Cross and continually redirecting their little ones’ attention to what is happening on the altar is still valuable and active participation. Through their participation, all present — no matter their role in the liturgy — exercise the royal priesthood of the baptized faithful.

Our liturgical celebrations should draw us closer to God as we pray as a community. The structure of the liturgy unites us as a Church in celebrating with the same prayers and Scripture readings no matter where in the world we are or what language we speak. The Scripture readings for Mass follow a cycle that repeats every three years for Sundays and solemnities, and every other year for daily Masses. The Church also uses a liturgical calendar to measure time according to certain seasons of feasting, penance, anticipation and expectation. With the liturgical calendar, we mark the celebration of holy days (the Proper of Saints) and holy seasons (the Proper of Time). Throughout the year in the liturgy, we celebrate the events of Jesus’ life as well as the feasts of Mary and the saints.

Liturgical prayer invites us to engage in praise, blessing and adoration, thanksgiving, petition and intercession as a community. Our communal prayer grows from the relationship with God we develop on our own in our devotional prayer. Coming together as a community to pray in a formal way, that relationship is nourished further, which then fuels our individual devotional prayer.

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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