How to pray as a Catholic: a simple guide

To pray as a Catholic, you turn your mind and heart to God and talk with him: you praise him, thank him, ask for what you and others need, and listen. You can use the Church's prayers, like the Our Father, or your own words, or simply sit quietly with him. Start small. Five minutes a day, at the same time, is a real prayer life, and the routine at the end of this page shows you how.

What is prayer?

The Catechism, quoting St John Damascene, puts it simply: "Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God" (CCC 2559). It isn't a technique or a performance. It's a relationship. God already knows what you need. Prayer is how you stay close to him, the way you keep in touch with anyone you love.

That means there's no wrong way to start. If you can say "Lord, I'm here," you can pray.

The five forms of Catholic prayer

The Catechism describes the kinds of prayer the Holy Spirit teaches the Church (CCC 2626–2643). You'll recognize most of them from ordinary conversation:

• Blessing and adoration. Acknowledging who God is, and that you are his creature. Kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, or just saying "You are God, and I am not," is adoration.
• Petition. Asking God for what you need. It begins with asking forgiveness, and then for everything else, big and small. Jesus told us to ask.
• Intercession. Asking on behalf of someone else: a sick friend, your children, people you find hard to love, the dead.
• Thanksgiving. Thanking God for what he's given. The Mass itself is the Church's great prayer of thanksgiving; the word Eucharist means thanksgiving.
• Praise. The Catechism calls praise the form of prayer that "recognizes most immediately that God is God" (CCC 2639). You praise him for who he is, not for what he's done for you.

A balanced prayer life has a bit of each. If your prayer is all requests, try adding one line of thanks and one of praise. It changes the tone of everything.

Vocal prayer, meditation and contemplation

The Church also speaks of three ways, or expressions, of praying (CCC 2700–2724). They aren't levels you graduate through. Most Catholics use all three.

Vocal prayer

Prayer with words, spoken or silent: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Rosary, the prayers of the Mass, or your own words. The Catechism calls vocal prayer "an essential element of the Christian life" (CCC 2701). It's where everyone starts, and it's never outgrown. The key is to mean the words, not race through them.

Meditation

Prayerful thinking. You take a passage of Scripture or a mystery of Christ's life and turn it over: what does this say, and what does it say to me? The Catechism describes meditation as above all a quest, engaging thought, imagination, emotion and desire (CCC 2705, 2708). The Rosary and lectio divina, described below, are both forms of meditation.

Contemplative prayer

Simply being with God, with few or no words. St Teresa of Avila called it a close sharing between friends, taking time to be alone with him who we know loves us (CCC 2709). The Catechism tells of a peasant in Ars who sat before the tabernacle and explained his prayer this way: "I look at him and he looks at me" (CCC 2715). Contemplation is a gift, but you can make room for it: a few minutes of silence at the end of your prayer, or quiet time in Adoration.

Simple ways to start praying

The Our Father

Jesus gave us this prayer himself when his disciples asked him how to pray (Luke 11:1–4, Matthew 6:9–13). If you only learn one prayer, learn this one, and pray it slowly:

Morning and evening

Bookend the day. In the morning, offer it to God before your phone gets you: a Morning Offering or a few words of your own. At night, look back over the day with a short examen: give thanks, notice where you fell short, and tell God you're sorry.

Scripture with lectio divina

Lectio divina, or sacred reading, is an old way of praying with the Bible. Take a short passage, such as the day's Gospel.

1. Read. Read it slowly, twice. Notice any word or phrase that catches you.
2. Meditate. Stay with that phrase. Why did it stand out? What might God be saying?
3. Pray. Answer him in your own words: thanks, a question, a request.
4. Rest. Sit quietly for a minute and let him have the last word.

The Rosary

The Rosary combines vocal prayer and meditation: you pray the Our Father, ten Hail Marys and the Glory Be for each decade while thinking about a moment in the life of Jesus and Mary. A full Rosary takes about twenty minutes. A single decade takes about three, and it's a fine place to begin.

What if I get distracted when I pray?

Everyone does. The Catechism says plainly that "the habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction" (CCC 2729). It also gives the remedy: don't chase distractions or fight them. Just notice and turn your heart back to God. Each time you return is itself an act of love.

Distractions can even help. What your mind wanders to often shows you what you're worried about or attached to. Bring that to God too. And if prayer feels empty for a long stretch, read about spiritual dryness. It happens to faithful people, and it isn't a sign you're failing.

A five-minute prayer routine

If you're starting from nothing, try this once a day for a month. Same time, same place.

1. Begin (30 seconds). Make the Sign of the Cross. Remind yourself that God is here and is glad you came.
2. Thank and praise (1 minute). Name one or two things from the last day you're grateful for. Tell God one thing you love about him.
3. Listen (2 minutes). Read the day's Gospel or a few verses of a Psalm. Stay with the line that catches you.
4. Ask (1 minute). Bring your needs and the people on your mind. Ask forgiveness for anything weighing on you.
5. Close (30 seconds). Pray the Our Father slowly and end with the Sign of the Cross.

When five minutes feels natural, let it grow. Add a decade of the Rosary, or a few minutes of silence, or an evening examen. For a fuller plan, see a simple Catholic daily prayer routine. On the days you miss, don't be hard on yourself. Pick it up the next morning. God is glad every time you come back.