There are many different ways to pray, and different kinds of prayer.  I want to identify here four kinds of prayer.

First, what we offer God

1) Thanksgiving/Blessing – This is thanking God for the gifts he gives us and the ways we has worked in our lives.  It is a grateful response to God’s work, gifts, and blessings.

2) Worship: Praise/Adoration – There is then a similar but distinctive type of prayer of worship, which might also mean adoration or praise.  Rather than thanking God for the gifts he gives us, worship (or praise or adoration) is thanking God for who God is rather than just the gifts he gives us.  As the Catechism puts it, “Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God.  It lauds God for his own sake, and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because HE IS.” (CCC 2639). While Praise and Adoration are mostly the same, we might think of Praise, as us using our words to do this (worship and give glory to God), and we might think of Adoration as us falling in reverent and awe-filled silence before God.

What we ask of God

3) Petition – This is the prayer of asking God for something for ourselves.  Whether it’s asking God for his blessing or for his help, for his guidance and wisdom, or for his forgiveness and mercy, these are all forms of petitions or supplications

4) Intercession – This is like petition, but asking God for those things for someone else or on behalf of someone else.  When I prayer for other people, this is intercession.  We also believe that this is particular what the Saints do for us.  When we “pray to the Saints,” that’s a short way of saying, we ask them to offer intercessory prayer for us.

I invite you to reflect: which of these prayers are a part of my personal prayer life?  Which one of these have I been neglecting?  Maybe I’ve been asking God for a lot of things, but haven’t taken time to simply worship him in praise or adoration.  Maybe I say my prayers or thanksgiving to God, but I never ask for God’s guidance in my life.  Maybe I’ve been asking God for a lot of things for myself, but I haven’t been praying for others.

Of course, in certain seasons of our life we will emphasize some forms of prayer over others.  When things are going well, it is natural that our prayer involves much more praise and thanksgiving of God.  When things are difficult, it is natural that our prayer involves much more of petition and intercession, asking God for help for ourselves and others.

But like a healthy relationship, our overall personal relationship with the Lord should include all these aspects.  We should thank and praise God.  But also God wants to actively be a part of our life, and for us to invite him into guiding us and blessing us.

Peace,

-Fr. Kevin