Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:9-10
When you are stressed out, how do you pray? When you are super excited about something, how do you pray? When you are begging for forgiveness, how do you pray? Just the other day I was sitting in the chapel just thinking. How was I going to pray today? How was going to pray during my 30 minutes of prayer during Lent? I feel like I've always prayed differently depending on the circumstance, which I do not think is a bad thing at all, just as long as my prayers are filling and true. Something that I think many people ponder in spirituality and religious life is how do we pray correctly?
When we were young (or maybe not so young if you're new to the Church) we were taught the Our Father and Hail Mary as foundational prayers. These are biblical prayers that are important to our faith. But what is also important about these "old" prayers, is that they are a stepping stone for our prayer life, and I don't think anyone really taught me that until after high school. The Our Father and Hail Mary are prayers that we can utilize in our life when we are stuck, or at a loss for words. That is why we are taught to memorize them. There are times when I sit in the chapel and I am just so stressed that words cannot flow, so I say three Hail Mary's to enter myself into a prayerful atmosphere with God.
But why is this important for Lent? During Lent we are called to strengthen our relationship with God and we can firmly do this through prayer, which is one reason why I chose to do a set amount of prayer time per day. With the help of these foundational prayers that teach us about forgiveness, adoration, thanksgiving, and supplication (or prayer requests) we can slowly work into praying with our own words and having those conversations with God! And don't forget that God loves both. He doesn't love only one form of prayer, but all. He wants you to just spend time with him. Utilizing the Our Father and Hail Mary are perfect stepping stone for me this Lent as I truly return to deep prayer time with God, and grow my relationship with him.
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