WHAT ARE THE MAIN FORMS OF CHRISTIAN PRAYER?

The main forms are:

§ as regards the content of prayer:

• the prayer of adoration

• the prayer of petition, that has as its objective, forgiveness and the seeking if God’s Kingdom (“Thy Kingdom come”), as well as every true necessity for ourselves and for others

• the prayer of thanksgiving: “In everything give thanks” (I Thessalonians 5:18). One thanks God for the gifts of creation and redemption. Every event and every necessity can become reason for thanksgiving

• the prayer of praise: one gives glory to God because He is God, firstly, more than for what He does.

§ as regards the manner of praying:

• Vocal prayer: It is based on the union of body and spirit in human nature and
associates the body (especially the voice) to the interior prayer of the heart. It facilitates prayer with others

• Meditative prayer: it puts thought, imagination, emotion and desire into action. It could be aided by a book (especially the Bible), by icons, writings of the Fathers of the Church and of Saints, by the big book of creation and daily events

• Contemplative prayer: It is a fixed gaze on Jesus in Faith, a silent love, “an intimate relationship of friendship, in which one often converses alone only with God, by whom one knows one is loved” (St. Theresa of Jesus).

§ All these forms of prayer are necessary and complementary in the life of the believer and the Church.

§ All these forms of prayer are contained, expressed, realized and completed in the highest degree, in the Eucharist. There is no other prayer that equals or is greater than the Eucharistic Celebration.

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