5 Types of Prayer
We as Catholics are taught that we need to pray to God in order to know him and to love him more. Although many of us pray at least once every day do we know what types of prayer we can use? The Catholic Church teaches five different types of prayer that we should all use to pray to our God and father.
The first type of prayer is adoration, and we use these prayers to praise God and we also acknowledge in this form of prayer how dependent we are on him. Some common prayers of adoration are the Gloria that we sing at Mass as well as the Our Father. We can also use our own words to adore God.
The second type of prayer is expiation. Expiation means that we acknowledge our sinfulness and ask God for his forgiveness. The greatest form of this prayer is when we receive the sacrament of Reconciliation and through the priest who is in persona Christi (in the person of Christ) forgives all of our sins that we are truly sorry for. Another form of expiation is the confiteor that we can say at Mass or the Kyrie (Lord have Mercy, Christ have Mercy, Lord have Mercy).
The third type of prayer is love, and it is seen as any prayers or acts that show the love of God. This type of prayer should be done mostly through our actions and efforts to bring God’s love to other people.
The fourth type of prayer is a petition, and it is exactly what you would think it is; when we ask God for something. This prayer is extremely powerful because we humble ourselves to ask God for the things we need, and if we are patient and open to God, all of our prayers will be answered at some time and in some way.
The fifth and final form of prayer is thanksgiving, and it can be the hardest form of prayer because it is the most overlooked. This form of prayer is when we take time out of our day to thank God for what he has given us and thank him for certain people in our lives. The most common prayer of thanksgiving is the prayer we say before our meals, but we can always strive to do more and to thank God for all sorts of things in our lives because he has truly blessed us with so much. |
