Life of Prayer
(Damian was in the Intensive Care Unit. One day his parents were called by the chief Doctor.)
Father : Doctor ....... Why did you call us.
Doctor : Come, Come sit down. I asked you to come to speak about Damian, his condition is not good. As doctors,we did our best.
Mother : Oh,.... God! Our only son.
Doctor : Don't get upset, I can understand your situation.If Damian can show us any good response within the next twentyfour hours, we can do something and make your son live.That is what I wanted to convey to you.
Father : Lets get together and pray.I can trust in God, He will never give any pain or sorrow to us (they left the doctor, and started to pray without ceasing and a few hours later, the Doctor came towards them with a smile.)
Doctor : Good news! It's a miracle, now we can do something and make your son live.
Father : Thanks be to God! I ....... believed our prayers will be heard by Him. (turns towards mother) when we return home, the first things we will take our son to the church.
Mother : Yes..... yes ....... even I thought. We shall do it that way. We will pray with our son more than other days.
Prayer is an important part of our christian life As the bark is attached to the tree, prayer also should be attached and be a part of our christian life.
Prayer is a personal conversation with God being bound with love. Therefore with great devotion and concentration, we should pray to God. It is not necessary to have a set of memorized words to do this.It is more profitable to speak to God with our thoughts, that turned in to words, that come from the depths of our hearts.
There are four kinds of prayer.
We christians, always try to engage in prayer to maintain a good relationship with God. When we pray, we praise, thank, ask for forgiveness for our sins and plead for graces and blessings from God.
Through parables, Christ taught and showed us how much more the Father in heaven gives good things to those who ask Him; therefore, He advises us to pray to God, without getting discouraged.
• Open your Holy Bible and read the above mentioned parables.
Parable of the pharisee and the tax collector.
When we pray
• We should not boast about ourselves, because God knows us very well.
• We should not compare ourselves wih others.
• We should not despise others.
• We should accept our sins and our failiures.
• We should pray humbly'
From the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector the above advice was shown to us, by Jesus.
When we pray, as christians we use different postures.They are raising our hands, joining hands and keeping them in front of our chest,worship by keeping hands on the forehead etc. Through these postures, we extend our devotion and humility to God,and also show,our praises which belongs to Him.
Therefore, when we pray we should be concerned about using the correct postures,and offer our praises always to God.
After his last supper,Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives,with his disciples. Jesus knew, 'Judas', the one who shared everything with Him,will betray Him the next moment, and hand him over to the chief priests. Jesus will have to undergo much suffering. Grief and anguish overcame Him and troubled him.He knelt down and prayed to his Father.
Prayer was a most important feature in the life of Jesus, when He was in sorrow, pain, loneliness and facing unsolved problems. Jesus found the answers through prayer. In that way, He was able to develop a strong relationship with God the Father. Even in His ministry,which was assigned to Him by the Father, Jesus was able to fulfill the task, through his constant prayer.
Some of the events where Jesus prayed
As christians we should practice the wonderful example which Jesus gave us to show the value of prayer.
Human life survives on the respiratory system. If any difficulty occurs to this system,we have to bid farewel and get ready for our last journey. Similary, prayer life is also very essential to our christian life.
Through that prayer life, we can see God's will for us and at the same time,we can satisfy and our fulfill our needs with God's blessings.
When we separate ourselves from our prayer life, we have also to separate from God. Then we become weak spiritually and ruin our christian values. Hence, let us pray daily to keep and secure our prayer life as a very essential part of our life.
In our daily prayers;
1. We can make use of spontaneous prayers, which we formulate according to our needs.
2. We can recite the different prayers which were introduced by the church.
Common prayers which we use frequently.
✨ As you wake up in the morning; Morning prayer.
God our Heavenly Father, who created and reigns over everthing, I thank you for the gifts and help,which I have received through your mercy and specially for preventing me from death last night. Today I promise you, that I will spend this day without disobeying any of your commandments and I offer all my thoughts, words and deeds, to you, therefore protect my body and soul, let me live in faith and according to your holy will and inherit your heavenly kingdom through your mercy. Amen
Through this prayer - We are
✡ Thanking the heavenly Father for keeping us away from death and all evil the night before.
✡ Promising God the Father, to live according to his commandments and do good, in our thoughts, words and deeds on the new day He has given us.
✡ Asking God to protect our life, during this day and night.
Before going to school or starting a journey;
Prayer to guardian Angel
Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side to watch, to guard to rule to guide me. Amen.
Through this prayer
⭐ Since we have given ourselves into the protection of our guardian angel, we ask to secure our lives from all evil and in all dangers
Before and After meal ¦
Grace before meals
Bless us, O Lord, and these your gifts,which we are about to receive from your bounty, through Christ our Lord' Amen. (Recite the Lord's prayer).
Grace after meals
We give you thanks almighty God, for all the gifts which we have received from your bounty. Help those who helped us give life for the living and peace for the dead ' Amen (Recite "Hail Mary")
Through these two prayers
⭐ Thanking God for the meal received, through his mercy.
⭐ Asking God to bless the meal and the people who eat the meal.
⭐ Asking to bless and protect the people, who prepared the food.
⭐ Praying to protect the living beings.
⭐ Asking God to give Eternal Rest to the dead.
Before studying or a special task;
Prayer to the Holy spirit
V. Come Holy Spirit,fill the hearts of the faithfully.
R. And kindle in them the fire of thy love.
V. Send forth thy spirit and they shall be created .
R. And thou shall renew the face of the earth .
Let us pray
O God, who by the light of the Holy spirit didst instruct the hearts of the faithful; grant that by the gift of the same holy spirit, We may be always truly wise and ever rejoice in his divine consolation, through Christ our Lord Amen.
Through this prayer
The believers of the Holy spirit praying to him to fulfill them,with His gifts.
Asking his courage to understand every thing correctly.
Pleading to feed us with his graces and make all of us, the inheritors of a joyous life.
Before going to sleep¦ Night Prayer
Jesus, our Lord and our redeemer who saved all mankind, forgive my sins, which I had done today.During this night time, save me from the sudden death, bad dreams and temptations of satan.With your mercy, help me to wake up, without having any uneasiness to my body and to my life to praise you, for your glory Amen.
Through this prayer
Pleading forgiveness from Jesus, for the sins we had done during the day, from morning till night .
Asking Jesus to protect us, during the night time from the death, bad dreams and the temptations of satan.
Asking to give us the ability to thank Jesus by waking up after a peaceful sleep.
During our prayer time, if we use these common prayers frequently, we should be careful to memorize them correctly and recite them with great devotion.
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. He listened to their pleading and said "When you pray, say this" and taught them the Lord's prayer.
As this prayer was taught and handed to us by our Lord Jesus, we name this as the "LORD'S PRAYER". At the same time we name it as, 'Our Father' too. This prayer that Jesus taught, was:
Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass againts us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.
According to the "Lords Prayer", we find some important topics which should be in a prayer. They are:
In the Lord's prayer, our heavenly Father is addressed not as "My Father", but as "Our Father". When we say "Our Father" we can see, there is a communitarian aspect in it. Because of that, this prayer is used more in the Church in her Liturgical services. The best example for that is the Eucharistic Celebration; but most of the time, we use the Lord's prayer in our personal prayer.
Normally, when we pray, we keep our hands joined, but when we say the Lord's prayer, we do not use the common posture. Instead, Mother Church invites us to spread out and raise our hands.
We must recite the Lord's prayer with this posture.
In the Lord's prayer there are three acts of praise and four petitions of physical and spiritual needs.
1. Act of Praise
(1) Hallowed be Thy name
• We praise the Holy Name of God, who created every thing.
(2) Thy kingdom come
• The final hope of every christian is to enter the kingdom of God. Our wish in this life is, to establish the kingdom of God on Earth,
(3) Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven
• The will of God reigns not only in heaven, but also on earth. That is our wish.
2. Petitions of physical and spiritual needs.
(1) Give us this day our daily bread
• As God provided 'Manna' to the people of Israel, in their flight from Eygpt to the promised land, we too ask God to provide us with our daily bread. We also ask God to give us our spiritual sustenance through the word of God, and the Holy Eucharist.
(2) Thy kingdom come
• The final hope of every christian is to enter the kingdom of God. Our wish in this life is, to establish the kingdom of God on Earth,
(3) Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven
• The will of God reigns not only in heaven, but also on earth. That is our wish.
(2) Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
• We should forgive others their wrongdoings and negligence against us. God will also forgive us in the same measure. That is are prayer in this petition.
(3) Lead us not into temptation
• We ask God to keep us away from all actions forbidden by the ten commandments.
(4) Deliver us from evil
• We ask God to protect us from all physical and spiritual dangers.
Through these praise intentions and the petitions of spiritual and physical needs, we offer our heart's praise and honour to God our Father. At the same time, we make a wish to establish his kingdom on earth, where justice. prevails. We also ask God's guidance, to understand in the correct way and to go on the path of righteousness, with physical and spiritual strength.
The Lord's prayer, taught by Jesus
Should be learnt correctly
Should be recited with correct postures
Should be recited not only in memory, but also understand the meaning of the words
Should be recited from the depths of our hearts
Should be recited in our daily prayers.
Should be recited by us Christians in our daily Prayers.
Appearance of Mother Mary to Father Dominic Gusman
In the begining of the 13th century, there were many conspiracies and various powers acting against the Christians who lived in Italy and Southern France. Their faith was attacked. A Spanish Priest, Father Dominic Gusman, was sad at this pathetic situation. He prayed and made sacrifices for three days asking God to change this situation. It was in a place near Toulouse. At the end of the third day, Mother Mary appeared to him carrying a rosary in her hand and with two angels, and said to Dominic.
Mother Mary : Dominic what is the weapon that the Holy Trinity is using to reform the world ?
Dominic : Oh! Mother Mary, in the plan of salvation, you have a place near your Son, so you know about it, better than I do.
Mother Mary : Reachout to the hardhearted people and win them over with the power of my rosary.
Mother Mary's appearence at Fatima
Francis and Jacintha, two siblings, and another cousin, Lucy lived in Fatima in Spain. These children had to look after the flocks, which belonged to their families. One Sunday the 13th of May in 1917, while they were watching the flocks, suddenly the whole place was illumined with a great light. The children who feared this incident wanted to leave the place, but on a nearby oak bush, they saw a beautiful woman. She is sitting and looking at them. She had a rosary in her hand, and said, "Do not be afraid, I will not do any harm to you" Lucy the cousin, was bold enough to question her, "Where did you come from?" "I came from Heaven" she revealed to Lucy. Finally the Lady asked them to intercede for the sinners of the world and pray, to change their hearts. Before she disappeared. she said "Say the rosary, say it correctly."
Apparition at Lourdes. I
n 11th of February 1858, a young girl called Bernadette, her sister and a friend, went to the woods, which was situated near a little brook, flowing in the town of Lourdes. When Bernadette removed one of her shoes to wade across, the river, a peculiar stir of wind caused her to look up, towards Massabielle a Picture 22.2 - Apparition Fatima Picture22.3 - Apparition Lourdes 110 mound of rock. that served as a town dump.
In a little grotto, aglow with golden light, there stood a lovely young lady. It was a strange experience for Bernadette. She said, "The Lady looked at me for sometime, bowed and smiled at me quite graciously. She gave a sign and asked me to come closer. A mysterious weakness came over me, I forgot where I was, I closed my eyes, again I opened them, the lady was there looking at me. For a moment, we looked at each other in silence. I fumbled for my rosary from the pocket and knelt down. At that moment, the young lady held up a rosary of her own. When I recited the rosary, gradually her rosary slipped away from her hand. The next moment, with a cloud, she disappeared into the Grotto." (From the book "The collection of Apparitions-by the Father Joseph Jayasuriya)
Eachtime when Mother Mary appeared, she pleaded to each and every person, to recite the Holy Rosary. When we recite the holy rosary we say "Hail Mary". It has three parts.
1. The first part of this prayer is based on the Annunciation story. (Luke 1:26-38) "Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and Blessed is the fruit, of thy womb Jesus".
2. The second part of Hail Mary is based on the The greetings of Elezabeth when our Lady visited her after the annunciation (Luke 1:42)
3. "Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death" - Amen.
"I am the hand maid of the Lord be it done unto me according to thy word" by saying this, Mother Mary accepted the will of God, and lived a life to do God's will always until the end; because of her great contribution to the salvation plan, she was called "blessed" and crowned as the Mother of the Church.
• Several Feasts of Mother Mary, are celebrating during the Liturgical year. 111
Eg:
• Feast of Mary Mother of God - (01st of January)
• Feast of the Assumption of Mother Mary - (15th of August)
• Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mother Mary - (08th of December)
• Several prayers, hymns, popular devotions give priority and honour to Mother Mary.
• Several Churches have been dedicated to Mother Mary' (some as shrines) and celebrate the Feasts annually. Eg. Our Lady of Lanka, Our Lady of Matara, Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Even among the saints, the highest honour is given to Mother Mary so we must give our heartfelt gratitude, honour and respect to Mother Mary in every moment at our life.
Prayer is a friendly and loving conversation we have with God. To have this conversation there are two methods:
1. Using a prayer that we have memorized
2. Using our own formulated prayer
We can express our own feelings which come from the heart to God, through prayers we have learnt by heart or made on our own. Thus we can improve our relationship with God. It paves the way for a deep life of prayer.
The formal prayers given by the Church are very useful for us, untill we get used to our own form of prayers. There are many benefits from these prayers:
• We will learn how to say our prayers.
• We will get guidance to formulate our own prayers.
• All can recite them aloud during common pryaers.
• We can use them also in our personal prayers.
The Creed, Angelus, Regina Coeli (Easter Season) Act of Contrition, are some of the common prayers we say. If we use these common prayers, we have to memorize them correctly. When we recite these prayers, it is important to:
• be together as a community
• Saying them aloud
• Very Clearly
• At the correct speed
• With deep faith
• Using correct postures
• It is important to say our prayers with concentration.
The Apostle's Creed
• There are 12 primary tenets of the Catholic Faith which we must believe in the Apostles Creed.
• It is a summary of our faith
• This prayer is a profession of our faith.
The Angelus
• The Son of God, who took the form of a man and was conceived in the womb of Mother Mary is remembered by this prayer.
• This prayer is said daily, at 5.30 a.m., 12.00 noon and 6.30 p.m
The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary ......................
Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy Word.
Hail Mary ......................
And the word was made flesh. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary ......................
V. Pray for us O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray
Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnaation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His passion and cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, Through the same Christ our Lord Amen.
(Glory be to the Father .................... thrice)
Regina Caeli
• This prayer reminds us about the Resurrection of Jesus
• This prayer is said during the Easter Season, starting from Holy Saturday until the Eve of Pentecost. Instead of the Angelus, the Regian Caeli is said during the Easter season.
Let us pray
O God, who through the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, did vouchsafe to make glad the whole world, grant we beseech Thee, that through His Mother, the Virgin Mary, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord Amen.
Act of Contrition
• In this prayer we ask pardon and forgiveness from God, for all our sins specially by not responding to His infinite Love.
• This is the prayer we say before, we receive absolution for our sins, during Confession.
O my God, I am exceedingly. sorry for having offended Thee, because Thou art infinitely good and infinitely to be loved that sin displeases Thee. Pardon me through the merits of Jesus Christ. I am firmly resolved with the assistance of the holy grace never more to offend Thee, to avoid all occasions of sin and to live better for the time to come. Amen.
In our daily prayers, we use these common prayers to address are Heavenly Father
Prayer is to lift up our hearts and minds to God, in praising, worshipping and thanking and asking our needs from Him. Prayer is a loving and friendly conversation, we have with God. Spontaneous prayer which comes from our heart, is more meaningful and fruitful than the prayers we say by memory.
We must pray to God, at different moments, for the creation, what is seen and unseen. For that we must know the different forms of prayers.
1. Prayer of Praise - the prayer we say to Praise God. Eg. The Eucharistic prayer of the Holy Mass
2. Prayer of Thanks giving - prayers to thank God for spritual and temporal benefits.
3. Prayer of asking for forgiveness - prayers asking God's Mercy to forgive our sins.
4. Prayer of Petition - presting our material and spiritual needs and asking God to help us.
It is our duty to respect God to praise Him, We and all that belongs to us proclaims God's glory. Hence we must praise and thank Him.
Likewise, that we should show our gratitude and thank God for the creation, our parents and all things we have received.
Very often we do wrong and offend God. For all these things, we must ask pardon and forgiveness from God.
We must also ask God for the things that we need. God knows, what we want. When we ask things from him it shows that we place our trust and hope in God.
We must pray for others too, but when we pray, we should wish that God's will be done in us, when we ask something from God. He gives only what is good for us.
The Book of Psalms is the prayer book of the Old Testament. All forms of prayers, mentioned above are included in those psalms. Here are some examples. We can imitate them, to learn how we should pray
i. A prayer to praise God (Psalm 150)
"Praise the Lord !
Praise God in his Temple !
Praise his strength in heaven
Praise him for the mighty things he has done
Praise his supreme greatness
Praise him with Trumpets
Praise him with harp and lyre"
ii. A prayer to thank God (Psalm 92)
How good it is to give thanks to you, O Lord,
To sing in your honour, O Most High God,
To proclaim your constant love every morning
And your faithfulness every night
iii. A prayer to ask Forgiveness (Psalm 51)
Be merciful to me, O God, -
Because of your constant love
Because of your great mercy - wipe away my sins!
Wash away all my evil - and make me clean from my sin!
I recognize my faults;
I am always conscious of my sins
I have sinned only against you - only against you
And what you consider evil 121
iv. A prayer of petition (psalm 5)
Listen to my words, O Lord, And hear my sighs,
Listen to my cry for help, My God and King
I pray to you, O Lord; You hear my voice in the morning;
At sunrise I offer my prayers And wait for your answer
⭐ Open your Bibles and read the entire psalms, mentioned above.
Let us prepare ourselves for a meditation
i. Close your eyes
ii. Be aware and listen attentively to all the sounds around you.
iii. Listen to the sounds that are near you.
iv. Become aware of your breathing.
v. Become aware that when we breath in, we inhale good qualities
vi. Imagine ….. while you are breathing out, you are ejecting all the impurities… and negative feelings away from you.
vii. Now let us express our love to our God who gives us the gift of life.
viii. Listen to the sounds of the birds in the morning……… the sound of the wind rustling in the trees and meditate on them.
ix. Among all creation, you are the supreme creation. Listen to this song about it:
It is our Parents who tell us about the Love of God
Dearest Son, dearest daughter, whoever you are or however you are, you are precious like a diamond to your father and to your mother. Even though the baby Lemur (Una hapuluwa) is ugly to others, Lemur's mother appreciates her baby, more than anything else. In the same way, you are precious to your mother, what ever you do or how you stay. Your father also loves you so much. You know your mother and father, who loves you so much. You can see how much they love you. But there is a person, whom you cannot see or do not know, but loves you immensely. He is your loving Father God.
“It’s amazing! how does God love you? You do not know this. “There are many answers, to this question. In a beautiful world full of trees, water, fruits, animals, God created you as a beautiful child, gave you loving parents, because God loves you.
“In all your troubles even without your knowledge, the one who comes to help you is God our Father. It is your duty to make a person happy, who has helped you. It is also a good thing. The best way you can make God the Father happy is, to love others in the the way that God the Father loves you. It will make Him happy. If you can love and obey your parents always. God the Father will be happier. Likewise think about others. Help them as you can. Give your help to those who need your support. Pray for those who need your prayers. God the Father will be happy about you, more and more.
x. Return to the awareness of your breathing.
xi. Listen to the sounds, you hear, from your background.
xii. Gradually open your eyes and feel a new life.
Except Pictures 1.1, 9.2, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 11.4, 12.6, 12.7 Other pictures were obtained from the internet