My great grandmother is the person who taught me how to pray. She was a very Godly woman and would pray every night before going to sleep. She could no longer kneel beside her bed so she would sit on the edge and say her evening prayers. During the summers when I would stay with her I would lay quietly on my side of the bed listening to her gentle whispering, waiting for her to finish. She taught me the Lord’s prayer and the children’s night time prayer “Now I lay me down to sleep . . .” at the end when you say “God bless this person and this person and this person” I remember becoming so bogged down trying to remember all the names that I wanted God to bless that eventually I just started saying “God bless everyone in the whole entire world.” It was so much easier and that way no one got left out of the blessing! She instilled in me the habit of nighttime prayers but by her example I learned how important it is to pray. Since I saw her praying quietly to God every night I knew that there was a real God on the other end, listening to what my Grandma had to say. That’s an invaluable thing to teach a person.
I’ve been through a lot of “phases” in my life – some of those phases I wasn’t going to church and I wasn’t sure what I really believed, but even during those times I prayed. I owe that to my Grandma – and the Holy Spirit of course! My prayers at these times were pretty self-centered prayer – as I was pretty self-absorbed at the time. God was like a celestial genie that was supposed to grant all my wishes or something. I was a real brat, to say the least. God of course worked on of his many miracles and somehow he got through to me though. I think now of that time as being a seed buried in the darkness. It was a dark and cold time, but God hadn’t forsaken me, he was just “growing” me. So now I’m a little sprout! Hooray!
Anyway, since becoming Catholic I’ve discovered so many new kinds of prayers! It’s awesome. I love all the ways that you can talk to God. I think prayer is so incredible because if you have a problem, say with your taxes, and you wanted to talk to someone who could really help you with that problem, for example George Bush, or even your state’s Governor, could you get them on the phone? Doubt it. But do you need God’s help? The creator of all the heavens and earth. All you have to do it pray and he’s right there to hear you. How cool is that? That really demonstrates his power to me. He’s so powerful he has time for me. Dumb little me. He’s not too busy, he’s not too hip, he’s not surrounded by a posse to keep his fans at bay. I really appreciate that. Thanks God!
Pope John Paul II indicates that people sometimes say they don’t know how to pray. “How to pray? This is a simple matter. I would say: Pray any way you like, so long as you do pray.” You can pray the way your mother taught you; you can use a prayer book. Sometimes it takes courage to pray; but it is possible to pray, and necessary to pray. Whether from memory or a book or just in thought, it is all the same. See, John Paul II, The Way of Prayer, Crossroad Publishing Co. (1995). See also The Necessity of Prayer, by St. Alphonsus.
As St. Paul teaches: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1Ths. 5:18 And again: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe…” Hebr. 12:28
painting by Nicholas Maes, “An Old Woman Praying”
Good post.., guy