Fundamentally, Christian prayer is communicating with The Lord. There are many types of prayers in the Christian tradition, which include intercession (praying for other people), thanksgiving (giving thanks to God in prayer), and penitential prayer (expressing sadness for your faults). Yet another major kind of prayer is meditation, in which a person contemplates some aspect of the life of Christ, or upon a quality of The Lord God. This can also consist of serenely listening to God’s will. Since the advent of the world wide web, there are even many locations where you can discover online prayers. This has given a new generation of believers access to not only classic prayers, but modern prayers too. One source of spirtuality is traditional Catholic prayers.

Some ways of praying are more organized and done in public, such as the Catholic Eucharist, which is highly organized, and other prayer is informal and done privately. Saint Paul commands us to “pray continually,” which means our lives needs to be infused with prayer!

While the evidence is somewhat conficting, some scientific proof suggests that prayer is effective at making individuals more relaxed and aware. Also, a few research studies even have shown that intercessory prayer helps hospitalized patients have better outcomes post surgery. While Catholics do not need modern science to “prove” that prayer works, nonetheless, science is exploring what manner, if any, prayer can be verified by science.

The public prayer of the Church is often called liturgy, which comes from the Greek term meaning “the work of the people.” This kind of prayer is called as such because God’s people come together to offer their sacrifices of gratitude and praise to God, all together, in communion. Catholics are expected to gather for prayer every Sunday for Eucharist, and on every holy day of obligation. There are not that many days of obligation besides Sundays, but a few include Mary, Mother of God and the Assumption of Mary.

Some of the most popular types of Catholic prayers relate to the liturgical year. This is why there are a lot of prayers related to the Church seasons, such as Christmas, and Lent. Another standard one, one of the many traditional Catholic prayers, is the Our Father, also known as the Lord’s Prayer. This is the form of prayer that Jesus Chist himself gave us when his apostles asked him how to pray. This has been the most prayed prayer throughout the Church’s history, since it is often said during Catholic worship and in private.

One of the most popular Catholic prayers is the Hail Mary, which is addressed to The virgin Mary. In truth it is a prayer that petitions Mary to pray for us. Catholics and Orthodox petition the saints to pray for us the same way we ask a friend to pray for us, except we understand the saints are in heaven near to God.

Lastly, another valuable type of prayer is the Novena. It is a 9-day time period of prayer, in which an individual prays the same prayer for nine days straight. This symbolizes devout and continual prayer, and is based on the nine day period between the Ascension and Pentecost Sunday. Many Catholics will pray novenas to their most well-loved saints, or choose a novena based on a pressing need that they have (such as cure of an illness or difficult situation).

There are a variety of prayers that have aided many people, and these prayers are freely available on the Internet for all to enjoy!

The author suggests finding and looking for prayers online in order to deepen your relationship with Jesus.