What is Prayer?

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Prayer is, in all cases, a gift, a covenant, and a communion.[1] That something may truly be considered prayer, it must (in some capacity) incorporate all the faculties and flow from/through the heart (God’s presence within us, where the Holy Spirit dwells).[2] It is the “fervor of the soul” which makes prayer answerable.[3 ]In the context of man being made body and soul, vocal prayer incorporates the senses with interior prayer and thus is the beginning of contemplative prayer.[4] Meditation incorporates the mind, as it seeks to know further the life one strives to live and make it one's own.[5] Therefore, by all motions and capacities of the mind, one seeks to move deeper in union with Christ through the guidance of spiritual masters and then further with the Holy Spirit.[6] Contemplative prayer is the direction, culmination, and fulfillment of the first two types. It is almost completely interior and unites the whole being in pursuit of the Lord, with great persistence (regardless of convenience).[7] In contemplative prayer, one seeks to enter into the divine life, as God’s child; by accepting God’s love in humility, poverty, and obedience with a gaze fixed on Christ.[8] Contemplative Prayer draws one to enter profoundly into the mysteries of Christ as He and His Love are made manifest in the heart of those who pray.
Each of these types should be sought for its interdependence and their cumulative goal to bring us to share in the divine life.[9]

FN:
  1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), Cf. 2559-2565.
  2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2562.
  3. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2700.
  4. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2704.
  5. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2705-6.
  6. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Cf. 2707,2708.
  7. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2709-11.
  8. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2712.
  9. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1, 460, 2713, 2718.
I am a Theology major attending Holy Apostles College and Seminary. I am a Knight of Columbus and a Newman Ambassador for Pius XII Newman Center.

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