Supposing you want to begin (or begin anew) the path of prayer, and mature in intimacy with the Lord God. Supposing you want to learn gradually to pray constantly, turning to God in good times and bad to thank Him, praise Him, worship Him, petition Him, and ask Him for forgiveness and grace. How do you do this concretely? There are many spiritual practices that help us grow in friendship with God. Among them, there are a handful of essentials. First, right prayer requires right action: we must regularly repent of our sins, do works of mercy, and strive to keep the commandments. Second, a life of prayer is built upon spiritual disciplines: under normal conditions, we must pray daily (especially in the morning and the evening), meditate on the Word of God in some fashion, give alms and fast (if possible), attend Holy Mass, and receive the sacraments, especially Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist.[1] By building these practices into our lives, gradually making them into habits, we build a strong foundation for our spiritual growth.
The following are some of these practices explained, together with others. Each of them come highly recommended. Attached to this lesson is an addendum with even more spiritual disciplines.
Morning Offering & Daily Review
Now this is what you shall offer upon the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer in the evening. (Ex 29:38-39)
It is essential to pray everyday, especially in the morning and the evening. The morning offering and daily review are common ways to do this. Offer your heart to God everyday. Begin each day with a “morning offering,” such as this one:
O my God, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary and your heart, I offer you the Precious Body and Blood of Jesus offered on all the altars throughout the world today, together with my every thought, word and action.
O my Jesus, I desire today to gain every indulgence and merit I can and I offer them, together with myself, to Mary Immaculate … that she may best apply them to the interests of Thy most Sacred Heart.
Precious Blood of Jesus, save us! Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us![2]
In the evening, look back and review the day you had offered to God in the morning. First ask God for light, and then ponder: “What blessings and graces did I notice?” Thank God for all of them. “When did things seem to break down—when was I not at my best?” Ask God’s forgiveness for these times, and ask Him for the grace to do better. Then, look ahead to the next day: what’s coming up that you will need God’s special help with? Ask Him for the help you will need tomorrow.[3]
Dedicated prayer time in Sacred Scripture
The sacred writings … are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, … that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tm 3:15-17)
Start with 15 minutes a day (or more) of dedicated, consecrated quiet time—reading, meditating, and praying with Scripture. Get yourself a bible that suits your age, stage, and interest.[4] One of the main criteria for choosing your prayer bible is that you enjoy reading it. And make sure it feels comfortable in your hands and is made to last, because it won’t just remain sitting on your shelf!
Along with the Bible, have a strategy for your bible reading. You don’t want to spend any of your precious prayer time deciding what to read. There are many bible reading plans available online and elsewhere. You might also do your bible reading from a book that lays out your daily readings for you, and many of these include also pre-written meditations. One such book is called My Meditation on the Gospel.[5] It takes you through the life of Christ, using all four Gospels, and uses a meditation style recommended by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Alternatively, you might want to focus on the readings that the Church places in her liturgy for the day. If so, you can use a devotional magazine with these daily readings and pre-written meditations, like The Word Among Us, or Magnificat.[6] If you want to use the daily readings but don’t need the pre-written meditations, you might use a Daily Roman Missal.[7] However you choose your readings, try to spend at least 15 minutes a day with the Word of God.
How do you pray with the Bible? Begin by calling upon the Holy Spirit to be with you and inspire you. Then read the Scripture selection prayerfully and reverently. Then reflect upon what you have read, especially any words, phrases, or whole sentences that may have caught your attention during your reading. Then pray to the Lord in response to the Scripture. Praise Him, thank Him, or just talk to Him from your heart. You may go back and reread and reflect and pray again. Sometimes, the Lord will stir up a flame of love in your heart, and you will become deeply aware of God’s love. Treasure these moments. This “method” is a form of what the Catholic tradition refers to as “lectio divina.”[8] At its heart, lectio divina is simply listening carefully to God speaking in the Scriptures, and speaking to Him in return in the words of your heart.
Other practices can also be helpful as you pray with Scripture. In response to what you read, for example, you might try writing a letter to Jesus in a journal, and then in prayer share with him the parts that especially seemed to relate to what’s going on in your life. When you finally conclude your Bible prayer time, it is helpful to write down or remember one sentence or phrase that you want to bring to mind again throughout the day.
Regular praying of the Rosary
Behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. (Lk 1:48)
A very popular devotion is the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is a great way to meditate on the Word of God, focusing on important parts of the lives of Jesus and Mary. By it, we draw near to Jesus and Mary, and call upon Mary’s powerful intercession for our needs. Many Popes and Saints have recommended it, and it has been called our “weapon.” Pray weekly, even daily!
Examination of conscience & confession
If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. (Rm 8:13)
Address the sinful patterns in your life. Every month or two weeks, examine your conscience by prayerfully reflecting on what you have done wrong, and then bring your sins to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. When you examine your conscience, write down all the sins you can remember having committed since the last time you went to Confession. Never omit to include all mortal sins that you can remember. Then go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Deal with the big stuff first. If you are in the habit of breaking any of the Ten Commandments in a serious way (committing mortal sin), focus most of your attention on them, and go to confession more often, until these sins have been overcome. Even if you have to go to confession two or three days in a row, it is worth it to receive grace and the inner motivation to stop sinning mortally. Once you have conquered your habitual mortal sins, you can move on to the finer points—the venial sins.
Receiving the Eucharist as often as possible
He took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Lk 22:19)
One of our greatest privileges as Catholics is the grace of being able to encounter the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist. Imagine: you are feeding upon the one through whom the universe was made! Doesn’t that make all your problems seem insignificant in comparison? If as the eternal Word of God, Jesus had no trouble putting the universe in order, will He be stumped by your problems? There is so much grace to be received in the Body and Blood of the Lord. Why go only once a week? Go as often as you can!
Avoid the “checklist mentality”
As we build spiritual practices into our lives, we should not forget that all spiritual practices ought to flow from our hearts as so many loving responses to the Lord and His gospel. For this reason, we should focus on our relationship with the Lord, avoiding what some have called “the checklist mentality.” Father F. X. Durrwell wrote,
From an inborn pride … [man] behaves as though he were master even when he tries to give honor to his God. … He treats his works as though they were of value in themselves, and offers them to God with the idea that they give him some right to a divine value in exchange, a right over the things of heaven. Yet the only way in which he can give anything to God is to accept God’s gift, to submit to God’s salvific will.[9]
When our spiritual practices are the focus instead of receiving the Lord’s love and responding to it — when we treat the spiritual life as a checklist — then we’re on the wrong path. “Checklist spirituality” can lead to burn-out, or judging others, or both. Be patient with yourself, and with others. Be humble: start with what you can manage without excessive difficulty. In your daily prayer, be sure to entrust your heart to the Lord; praising Him, thanking Him, and asking Him for what you need. Then add to your spiritual practices gradually, in ways that are in keeping with your responsibilities.
We are imperfect creatures but loved by God right now, as we are. He calls us to perfection, but He takes us by the hand and helps us get there—step by step. When we fall, He is ready to help us up again. He is a good Father.
[1] Most of these are represented in some way in “the precepts of the Church,” which are required of all Catholics. See Catechism, sec. 2041-2043.
[2] There are many “morning offering” prayers out there to choose from. See the Catholic ministry “Apostleship of Prayer” for some good options: http://popesprayerusa.net/daily-offering-prayers/.
[3] This is a form of what is also known as “the daily examen.” Saint Ignatius of Loyola teaches a particular method in his Spiritual Exercises.
[4] If you are a teen just getting started, perhaps the Good News Translation (GNT) will be suitable (also known as Today’s English Version, Second Edition). If you are an adult, get the New American Bible (NAB), which corresponds with what you hear at Mass. You might also try the Jerusalem Bible or the New Jerusalem Bible. If you are also going into more in-depth academic biblical study, you might get the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (RSV-CE), or the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (RSV-2CE).
[5] Published by the Confraternity of the Precious Blood.
[6] For Word Among Us, go to https://wau.org/. For Magnificat, go to https://us.magnificat.net/.
[7] Roman Missals also help you follow along with the prayers of Holy Mass.
[8] See our Saint Paul Street Evangelization tract, Lectio Divina, for a more thorough explanation on how to pray using this method.
[9] F. X. Durrwell, In the Redeeming Christ (Notre Dame, IN: Christian Classics, 2013), 28-29.