1. Prayer and the Paschal Mystery
Section 5
Prayer and the Paschal Mystery

2. The Fundamentals of Prayer
Part 1
The Fundamentals of Prayer

3. What are some things you would do that develop a good friendship?
Why We Pray
What are some things you would do that
develop a good friendship?
Prayer – lifting up of ones mind and heart to God; communication with God in a relationship of love
Just as we have to work to keep good friendships on earth, we have to work to keep our friendship with God.
The family is the first place where we learn to pray.
Words are an important part of prayer but we must also spend time in silence to hear God.
Prayer involves your mind and heart.

4. The Forms of Prayer
The Holy Spirit instructs the Church in the life of prayer, inspiring new expressions of the same basic prayer forms.
Forms of prayer:
Blessing and
adoration
Petition
Intercession
Thanksgiving
Praise

5. Blessing and Adoration
The prayer form blessing is a two-step movement.
First God give us a gift, and then we respond with joy and gratitude.
Adoration is related to blessing.
When we adore God, we acknowledge that we are creatures before the One who created us.
We can also ask for God’s blessing for someone else.
The gesture or touch that often accompanies these blessings symbolizes the bestowal of God’s grace on the receiver.

6. Petition and Intercession
A prayer for petition is asking God for something you need.
The first movement of petition is always asking forgiveness.
Intercession is a prayer of petition in which you ask God for help for another person.
Jesus asks us to not only pray for our friends and family but for our enemies too.

7. Thanksgiving and Praise
In Thanksgiving we remember that we are creatures and God is our Creator.
The Mass is a prayer of thanksgiving.
Praise embraces all other forms of prayer and carries them to God.
Praise is the form of prayer that expresses our love for God.
Many prayers of praise can be sent through music.

8. Expression of Prayer
There are three major expressions in a life of prayer: vocal prayer, meditation and contemplation.
Vocal prayer, which uses words either spoken aloud or recited silently focuses on conversation with God.
At first, most people learn memorized prayer.
As we grow we start to pray to God in our own words.

9. Expression of Prayer
Meditation is a form of prayer involving a variety of methods and techniques in which one engages the mind, imagination, and emotions to focus on a particular truth, biblical theme, or other spiritual matter.
Used to ponder God’s actions and presence in your life.
Many times, scripture passages can be an inspiration for meditation.

10. Expression of Prayer
Contemplation is a form of wordless prayer in which one is fully focused on the presence of God or mysticism, experiencing the presence and power of God.

11. Ignatian Gospel Meditation
Many different schools of Christian spirituality offer us valuable guidance in developing our prayer life.
St. Ignatius of Loyola used his imagination for prayer.
He imagined himself as being part of the scenes in the Gospel stories.
St. Ignatius of Loyola developed a method of prayer that uses the imagination.
The goal is to create a personal and real encounter with Jesus.

12. Format for Ignatian Gospel Meditation
1. Prepare for prayer by getting in a comfortable position in a silent space. Select a passage, preferably from the Gospels. 2. Read the passage through once, pay special attention to the characters and details. surroundings, smells, sounds, who is there, words, actions, etc. You may read the passage multiple times to get all the details. 3. Enter the story in your imagination, call on your senses to follow the details of the story. Converse and interact with the people in the story. 4. As you experience the story, pay attention to all your reactions, all that you are feeling and thinking. 5. Respond to the experience in prayerful conversation with Jesus.