As I attempted to express in the last issue of this article, prayer is essential for our spiritual life. We cannot maintain any type of real relationship with God if we don’t engage in prayer. Spiritual writers divide prayer into many different categories. A simple division is to look at prayer either as one-to-one, the prayer a person does by him/herself, or as many-to-one, the prayer a person does with others. One-to-one prayer has three expressions:

(1) we reach out to God by saying prayers we were taught – by reciting the formulas we have memorized;
(2) we reach out to God and speak to God in our own words – this form of prayer very often comes from reading and reflecting on the Scriptures or some spiritual book; and
(3) we reach out to God heart to heart in the language of silence, in the language of the heart.

Each of these forms of personal prayer serves us well at different times in our lives, and we may well use all three on the same day. In no way are they exclusive. Actually they can feed into one another and enhance one another. Each expression has advantages and dangers.

Reciting prayers that we have memorized can be of great comfort. They are familiar. They are available. We can “hook into them.” They can carry us along in periods of dryness. Although they do not usually carry a high emotional charge, they help us realize that we need to keep in touch with God. We feel that these prayers belong to us, even though we did not create them. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He did not give them a series of exercises to do for meditation or teach them a method of prayer. He gave them a formula, a very simple formula: “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins for we too forgive all who do us wrong; and subject us not to the trial.”

All prayer is conversation with God. It is only in silence that we hear His response!