Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

Variety in Prayer

Years ago I was told that no two snowflakes were exactly the same; each snowflake was unique. I think that holds true for prayer, as well. No two people will pray in exactly the same way. Our prayers will be unique, shaped by our personality, what’s going on in our lives and hearts, even how we are feeling physically, mentally, or emotionally on any give day. St. Ignatius tells us to bring our selves to prayer just as we truly are.

In our prayers, we can praise God, thank God, seek help for ourselves or others, express sorrow for our failings and sins as we ask God’s forgiveness. We are free to use our own words or rely on prayers that are written down. We can also use helps like the rosary, litanies, or the lists we keep of the people and intentions we wish to pray for. Prayer can be private and individual (“me” prayers) or communal ones that we offer with others (“we”prayers).

The choices we have are rich and many, and include imagining ourselves in a gospel scene, repeating a line or two from the Bible and letting it really sink in, or just sitting quietly in God’s presence. And St. Paul tells us that even when we don’t know the how to pray on a particular occasion or in a particular circumstance, we can rely on the Holy Spirit’s helping us by praying in us, with us and for us (Romans 8:26 and 27) as God wishes.