To “pray” means to talk to God or someone else in Heaven or in Purgatory. We can pray out loud or quietly in our thoughts. Prayers are usually spoken, but they can also be sung. We can pray alone or with others. Usually, when we pray, we ask for something, either for ourselves or for someone else. Prayer can also have other purposes. Prayer can express our gratitude and thankfulness. Prayer can be offered to ask pardon and make reparation for our sins or the sins of others. Our prayers can express the thoughts on our mind or in our heart that we want to tell God. For example, prayers can be acts of faith, hope, love, trust, praise, worship, adoration, etc.

Our prayers to God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit are the most important prayers for us to say. However, God wants us to pray to others in Heaven as well. We should pray to the Mother of God - the Blessed Virgin Mary. We should also pray to our Guardian Angel and our patron Saints. These are the Saints that we were named after at our Baptism and Confirmation. We can also pray to Saint Michael the Archangel, St. Joseph, or anyone else in Heaven!

We should pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory, but we can also pray to them to ask them to help us or someone else. These souls are waiting to get into Heaven. Before they died they made a good Confession of all of their sins and were truly sorry for them. They were forgiven by God, but did not make full reparation for these sins while on earth. In Purgatory they must suffer in order to purify their souls from the damage their sins caused. Only a spotless soul can enter into Heaven. We should offer prayers for them every day to help them get to Heaven. Since they did not go to hell, God permits them to start helping us even before they are in Heaven. Many Saints had lots of prayers answered when they asked the Poor Souls for help.

We can pray “formal” prayers or just pray in our own words. Formal prayers are prayers that someone else has written, and the Church has approved that people can say them. The Our Father and the Hail Mary are examples of formal prayers. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Divine Office (which is prayed by Catholic priests and religious) and the Holy Rosary are others. We have designed a special prayer book for you to cut out and keep. It has the most basic and common formal prayers that the Church wants Her children to pray. It is very important for families to pray together every day. They should pray together before every meal and one five decade Rosary every day, at least.

IS IT IMPORTANT TO PRAY?

God shows us in His Holy Bible and teaches us through His Roman Catholic Church, that if we want to go to Heaven when we die (even if we must go to Purgatory first) then we must pray. Throughout the Holy Bible, God tells us again and again to pray. When Jesus, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, became man to redeem us, the Holy Gospels tell us that He prayed very often. Also, whenever He was going to go through great temptations or trials, He would spend long hours in prayer before they happened.

There are many times when Jesus spoke of how important it is to pray. For example, in the Holy Gospel of St. Matthew, Jesus says: “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” … “If you, even though you are sinners, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, Who is in Heaven, give good things to those who ask?”

Jesus also tells us that we cannot do any good thing without Him. The Saints became Saints because they prayed for the help to become Saints. And if you simply want to do your work well, or be good, or help others who are in need - and especially if you want to save your soul - then you must ask Heaven for help. Jesus said if we ask, it shall be given to us, so if we do not ask then it won’t.

Why does God insist that we ask? Because by asking Heaven for help we show God many wonderful things. We show Him that we are humble enough to admit that we need God’s help. We also show Him that we trust His Love for us and that we believe that He can, and wants to, help us. And after asking for help and receiving it, we should show God our gratitude for the help that Heaven gives us. God really likes it when we are grateful!

HOW SHOULD YOU PRAY?

God has warned us that if we want mercy from Him we must show mercy to others. One of the greatest acts of mercy is to pray for other people to be saved. We pray that God will give these people all the help they need so that they will stop sinning and grow in virtue as good Catholics. In this way, they will go to Heaven when they die. We can pray for anyone (and everyone), but there are special people that we should pray for every day. Children must pray for their grandparents, parents, brothers, and sisters. Parents must pray for their parents, brothers, sisters, and their children as well. Of course, we can include other relatives, friends, - anyone.

We should especially pray for our Guardian Angels and our parents so that they will get more help to do their job better. Their job, of course, is to help us save our soul. That is the most important job that anyone in our life can have. It is the most important job we have. Therefore, we should pray for help for ourselves as well.

Another great act of mercy is to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory as we have mentioned earlier. We can also pray for things which help others to live better lives. This includes praying for sick people to get well and for poor people to get food and clothing, etc. We can pray for the leaders in the Church and in governments to be good leaders that do God’s will and make good laws that are pleasing to God. Good laws remind people to say and do what is right and punishes them when they do not. If people do bad things and are not punished, they will not stop doing those things. When they die they will not go to Heaven.

When we have sinned, we must go to Confession to a Catholic priest. We should pray before we go that we will make a good Confession. This means we pray for the help to: remember all of our sins; be truly sorry that we did them; and resolve not to do them again. All of these things are good, and we know that we cannot do any of them without Jesus and His grace. If we want His help, we have to ask for it. That means we pray.

Sometimes when we pray, God does not answer us right away, and we need to persevere in our prayer. This is because God knows that if He answers us too quickly, we may not be grateful. If we are rude and do not thank Him, then we do not deserve any more of His help. God also wants us to talk to Him very often. If we get everything with just a short little prayer, then we won’t talk to God very much.

Also, God sometimes does not give us what we ask for because He wants to give us something much better. Saint Monica had a son who was living a very bad life. He was a sinner who was on his way to hell. She prayed for many years. Her son did not change, but she knew that what she wanted was very important and so she did not stop praying. Finally, God answered her prayers. She was very surprised when her prayers were answered though. She had only been praying that her son would become a Catholic and live a good life so that he would go to Heaven when he died. But God had something much better in mind. Her son did become a Catholic, but he also became a priest and then a bishop. He became good, but in time he also became very holy, one of God’s best friends. God taught him many good things, and he became a great teacher in the Church. After he died, God inspired His Church to declare him a Saint and a Father of the Church. His name is Saint Augustine.

So don’t ever stop praying for someone or something, because one day God will certainly answer your prayers in a wonderful and sometimes surprising way!