Prayers and Devotions

How do I pray?

Various forms of prayer are presented in the Catechism of
the Catholic Church (CCC 2623-2649). These various forms include prayer
of blessing or adoration, prayer of petition, prayer of intercession,
prayer of thanksgiving, and prayer of praise.

What is meditation?

"Meditation is above all a quest."

Meditation is a Christian practice of prayer dating back
to the early Church. As the Catechism states: "Meditation is above all a
quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian
life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking." By
meditating on the Gospels, holy icons, liturgical texts, spiritual
writings, or "the great book of creation," we come to make our own that
which is God's. "To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we
discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able
to discern them. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come
into the light: "Lord, what do you want me to do?" (CCC 2705-2706).

Meditation is an essential form of Christian prayer,
especially for those who are seeking to answer the vocational question,
"Lord, what do you want me to do?"

How do we pray with Sacred Scripture?

Spiritual reading of Sacred Scripture, especially the
Gospels, is an important form of meditation. This spiritual reading is
traditionally called lectiodivina or divine reading. Lectiodivina is prayer over the Scriptures.

The first element of this type of prayer is reading (lectio):
you take a short passage from the Bible, preferably a Gospel passage
and read it carefully, perhaps three or more times. Let it really
soak-in.

The second element is meditation (meditatio). By using your
imagination enter into the Biblical scene in order to "see" the setting,
the people, and the unfolding action. It is through this meditation that
you encounter the text and discover its meaning for your life.

The next element is prayer (oratio) or your personal
response to the text: asking for graces, offering praise or
thanksgiving, seeking healing or forgiveness. In this prayerful
engagement with the text, you open yourself up to the possibility of
contemplation.

Contemplation (contemplatio) is a gaze turned toward Christ
and the things of God. By God's action of grace, you may be raised above
meditation to a state of seeing or experiencing the text as mystery and
reality. In contemplation, you come into an experiential contact with
the One behind and beyond the text.

What are devotions?

Popular devotions are expressions of love and fidelity that arise from
the intersection of one's own faith, culture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As Saint John Paul II said in 2001:

Devotions promote the faith of the people.

"Genuine forms of popular piety, expressed in a multitude of different ways,
derives from the faith and, therefore, must be valued and promoted. Such
authentic expressions of popular piety are not at odds with the centrality of
the Sacred Liturgy. Rather, in promoting the faith of the people, who regard
popular piety as a natural religious expression, they predispose the people for
the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries.

The correct relationship
between these two
expressions of faith must be based on certain firm principles, the first
of
which recognizes that the Liturgy is the center of the Church's life and
cannot
be substituted by, or placed on a par with, any other form of religious
expression. Moreover, it is important to reaffirm that popular
religiosity,
even if not always evident, naturally culminates in the celebration of
the
Liturgy towards which it should ideally be oriented. This should be made
clear
through suitable catechesis" (Address to the Congregation for Divine
Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, September 21, 2001).

By accepting this message, you will be leaving the website of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This link is provided
solely for the user's convenience. By providing this link, the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops assumes no responsibility for,
nor does it necessarily endorse, the website, its content, or
sponsoring organizations.