 A Special Message From Our Webmaster In this world, so many people insist on making time for themselves. It is very seldom that people make time for God. God is a part of our lives and is with us always, and we should make every effort to pray as much as possible. Prayer occurs in many ways. Our simple petitions, speaking to God in a personal and intimate manner through our thoughts and words. Doing our daily duty in His service, without complaint or desire for praise. And then there is memorized or conventional prayer, such as the rosary. Many will argue that talking to God is simply enough. What they don’t realize or understand is that prayer is more than speaking to God. We must remember that Jesus himself gave the disciples the Our Father, telling them to recite it, and in essence instructing them to make formalized prayer a part of their lives. Over the centuries he has continued to instruct us to prayer, passing on further prayers and petitions through his Mother and saints. Aside from being obedient to God, formalized prayer is important in that it holds great power against the devil. While the world would like to catergorize the devil along with the boogeyman, as being a fantasy, the truth is that Satan and his minions exist. Prayers hold great power in weakening their strength and driving them away. In exorcisms, the demons have consistently spoken of their hatred of prayer. The rosary is of particular scourge to the devil, who sneered that it and the scapular steal many souls from their diabolical grasp. There are more benefits to prayer than can be recited in this small essay. However, another crucial element that must be explored is the fact that prayer also is a roadmap to salvation. Protestants will argue that the Bible hold all the keys to salvation. Yet, part of their own faith and practice is to memorize portions of the bible which they recall during trials and at pertinent times. This is essentially praying. Reciting memorized words, in true prayer we focus on them, meditate, and find direction as to how we should live, how we should act, and ultimately how to get to heaven. The difference being in that the prayers given to us outside of the bible are usually given with specific intent and instruction, such as prayers for the sick. Over the years I have seen many people become frustrated with their prayer life, or their lack thereof. A prayer life, like many things, must be built. Personally, the journey of my prayer life has been wide and varied, at times rocky and uncertain, at other times calm and smooth. There have been times when I have been able to pray for hours on end, and then periods where I am happy to recite a sole Hail Mary. God knows our hearts and He knows our souls, and He understands the trial simple everyday life can pose, especially when raising a large family. What one must remember is that this is actually normal. It is the effort to prayer that is important as the prayer itself. Just as a marathon runner must build up and condition themselves in a physical manner, such we must in a spiritual manner. Something that is often not articulated well, and perhaps for fear that it will put some into a complacancy, is the fact that for many, prayer life does not begin very powerfully, but like a seed of a great tree, it grows slowly. Many times I have endeavored to shoot straight to the top, attempting to complete a long-term novena at the time I was not even consistently saying a daily rosary. When I inevitably failed, I would feel discouraged, spiritually inadequate, and want to give up, not realizing that the problem was that I was not quite ready for such a task. Prayer life must be built over time. For those who have never really prayed, beginning simply with an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be on a daily basis can be an incredible feat. Soon it's easy to add more prayers, begin the rosary...even a decade a day, or one full rosary one day a week. Any prayer, no matter how small, is meritorious, and helps build our spiritual strength. After a while, not only is is easier to say more prayers, but we yearn for it. Prayer is powerful, and the devil detests it. In Fatima, Our Lady told the children that many souls go to hell simply because they have no one to pray for them. So, to that end the devil has a vested interest in keeping us from praying. He will use our own weakness, our own guilt and sorrow against us. When we skip a day of prayer, or perhaps break a novena, we feel such sorrow and inadequacy that we oftentimes want to give up. Perhaps after a period of deep and constant prayer, we find ourselves in a slump where we cannot pray at all. During those times we must not despair. Even if there was a time when you could say hours of prayers without any interruption, that does not diminish the merit of again starting with a sole Hail Mary and building up again. Many of the saints have written of the power of a sole pray, especially in times when it is difficult to pray anything at all. I must admit to my own struggles with saying the rosary. Sometimes it was simply difficulty finding the time to say it. Other times it was simply that I preferred another prayer. Despite my own hang-ups in this area, time and time again I have been shown that the rosary is the first and foremost prayer and should be the anchor of our prayer life. Certainly, God honors and cherishes all prayer, and if you are praying you should continue to do so. However, I do urge everyone to try to say the rosary, even periodically. It is my desire to have a portion of this website devoted to prayers. There are many websites that list prayers and novenas, and where you can find pretty much anything you are looking for. Therefore, it is not my goal to be an all-inclusive prayer listing. My desire is to share some prayers with you all that I am personally fond of. Even moreso, I hope to gather and list prayers and novenas that would be of particular interest and merit to those living a quiverfull lifestyle. Though a small endeavor, I do hope it will encourage you to begin or continue to grow your prayer life. Together, in the communion of saints, our prayers are needed now more than ever. catholicprayerbook.net - catholicprayerbook.net Page Background by: Cottontail Graphics |