2. OPENING PRAYER: AS THE DEER
Psalm 42
As the deer panteth for the
water
So my soul longeth after Thee
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship Thee
You're my friend and You are
my brother
Even though You are a king
I love You more than any
other
So much more than anything
You alone are my strength, my
shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship Thee
I want You more than gold or
silver
Only You can satisfy You
alone are the real joy giver
And the apple of my eye
3. CHAOS
GOD
REVIEW on salvation history:
Restoration of
broken relationship
Pray…
not be put to the test
Mt.26:41
JESUS CHRIST
Savior
-is a man of PRAYER
FALL OF MAN
Disobedience
-independence
Sin:
•Alienation
•Death
•Sufferings,
•Chaos
•Created in His image
and likeness
•Dependence
•Harmony
•Immortality
BaptismAdopted
children
Concupiscence
-tendency to
commit sin
Prayer is our
weapon to
combat evil
4. Questions to ponder:
1. What is prayer?
2.Why do we need to pray?
3.Where to pray?
4.When to pray?
5.How to pray?
6.Did God answer our prayers?
5. WHAT IS PRAYER?
Prayer is basically a RELATIONSHIP and COMMUNICATION with God:
GOD
OTHERS
• is God’s initiative, not our
achievement.
• is an encounter with God in
love.
• God constantly seeks to
make his presence
known and felt.
OTHERS
Consider a close human
relationship (with a spouse or best
friend):
• We not only speak with one another, but
also listen to each other (one
mouth, two ears!).
• We not only communicate verbally, but
also spend time together in
many other ways.
• We focus not just on ourselves, our
needs & desires, but even more
on the other person.
6. “Holy Father, keep those you have given me
true to your name, so that they may be one
like us.” (Jn. 17: 11 )
7. “Our prayer should be an
expression of a desire for
what God tells us in our heart
and conscience to do or to
wish for and not to desire what
we selfishly and personally
like to do or possess”.
St. Augustine (Conf.X, 26,37)
8. 2. Why do we need to pray?
•We need to pray because we have a basic
need and duty to recognize God in the midst
of life and to respond to God’s gift of
himself.
•We are in love with God.
• We want to communicate with God and
respond to His love for us.
•To know the will of God
The choices we made is the product of
our prayer.
10. Adoration:
- Means recognizing and
accepting
the infinite difference between
God and every creature.
-True “worship or pagsamba”
of God.
“ Yahweh, our Lord, how great
your name throughout the
earth!”
Ps. 8:1
(Ito ay ang pagkilala ng tao sa
kanyang Tagapaglikha (Creator)
at pagbibigay halaga sa kanyang
sarili bilang nilika (creature).
11. Contrition:
- to ask pardon for
our sins and for many
times we have not
loved God as we
should.
Have mercy on me, O God in your
goodness, in your great tenderness
wipe away my faults; wash me clean
of my guilt, purify me from my sin. (
Ps. 51: 1-2)
12. Thanksgiving:
- We thank God for all His
goodness to us.
- For the many benefits we
receive from God including
those which we are not
aware of.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is
the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(1 Thessalonians 5:16–18)
13. Supplications:
Do not worry about anything, but in everything
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God.
(Philippians 4:6)
- to ask for the many
things, spiritual and
material, which we need.
“Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you
will find; knock, and the door will be opened to
you.” Mt. 7:7
14. 3. Where to pray?
1. Find a suitable place.
God is everywhere
“When you pray, go into your inner room and
shut the door and pray to your Father in secret.”
(Matthew 6:6)
15. 4. When to pray?
Set times for prayer:
– morning , evening, or any
hour of the day.
When do you pray?
16. “Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of
the evening”
Mahatma Gandhi
17. • “Longing is always a prayer, even though the tongue is silent.
If your yearning is constant, then you are always praying”
•
St. Augustine (Sermon 80,7)
18. 5. How to pray?
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know
how to pray as we ought,
but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words”.
Romans 8:26
Forms of prayer:
A. Private prayer
B. Public or common prayer
19. What is lectio divina?
Lectio Divina: (individual or group)
• literally this means ‘spiritual reading’.
• is a "Vital Encounter with the Lord"
• is being promoted today as a very helpful way of
praying with the Bible, combining several of the other
methods of biblical prayer :
– This Bible reading, accompanied by prayer, is
known in the tradition of the Church by the
name Lectio Divina, a practice that should be
encouraged among all Christians.” (John Paul
II, Ecclesia in America, 1999, p. 31)
20. Methods of Praying with the
Scriptures
• Reading (lectio)
• Meditation (meditatio)
• Prayer (oratio)
• Contemplation (contemplatio)
• Action (actio)
21. •Reading (lectio) – hearing God’s Word in the
Bible as I/we read it aloud
What does the biblical text say?
22. Meditation (meditatio) – reflecting on the
meaning of the text that I/we have read
What is God saying to me/us through this text?
23. Prayer (oratio) –
speaking with God in praise,
thanksgiving, contrition, and
petition
What do I/we say to God in
response to this text?
24. Contemplation (contemplatio) – listening to
God more quietly in
the silence of our hearts
How does this text make me/us feel in
my/our relationship with God?
25. Action (actio) – letting the encounter concretely
affect our daily life and work in the
world
How will I/we change what I/we do today
in response to hearing this text?
26. Lectio Divina Process:
• Reading (lectio) – hearing God’s Word in the Bible as I/we
read it aloud
– What does the biblical text say?
• Meditation (meditatio) – reflecting on the meaning of the
text that I/we have read
– What is God saying to me/us through this text?
• Prayer (oratio) – speaking with God in praise, thanksgiving,
contrition, and petition
– What do I/we say to God in response to this text?
• Contemplation (contemplatio) – listening to God more quietly
in the silence of our hearts
– How does this text make me/us feel in my/our relationship with God?
• Action (actio) – letting the encounter concretely affect our
daily life and work in the world
– How will I/we change what I/we do today in response to hearing this
text?
27. B. Public or Common prayer
When two or three are gathered in my name I am
in the midst of them.” Mt. 18:20
• It is not enough to pray in
private.
• We are also a Church- Mystical
Body of Christ.
• Holy Eucharist- the highest
form of worship/ prayer.
• Liturgy of the Hours
28. 6. Did God answer our
prayers?
If God did not answer our prayers…
• He is teaching us to be patient.
• Maybe what we asked for is not good
for us – it is contrary to our sanctification
and will lead us into damnation.
•Let us pray what is the will of God
for us. May our desire will
be the desire of God for us.
• Willing to do His will not our will.
29. Synthesis:
•Prayer is an encounter with
God in love. A God who
constantly seeks to make
His presence known and felt
by us.
•We do not know how to
pray as we should, but that
very Spirit that is in us who
teaches us what to pray.
30. Synthesis:
•He calls us to respond his loving
invitation as he continuously reveals
himself to us in our history and in our
daily undertakings. He calls us to establish
an intimate relationship with Him who
created, redeemed and sanctified us.
•God nourish our body and soul through
the Body and Blood of Christ that we
partake in the Holy Eucharist. The
Eucharist is the source and summit of all
Christian worship. We become what we
eat– we become like Christ in thought, in
word, and in deed.
31. CLOSING PRAYER:
Great art thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised;
great is thy power, and infinite is thy wisdom." And man
desires to praise thee, for he is a part of thy creation; he
bears his mortality about with him and carries the evidence of
his sin and the proof that thou dost resist the proud. Still he
desires to praise thee, this man who is only a small part of
thy creation. Thou hast prompted him, that he should delight
to praise thee, for thou hast made us for thyself and restless
is our heart until it comes to rest in thee. Grant me, O Lord, to
know and understand whether first to invoke thee or to praise
thee; whether first to know thee or call upon thee. But who
can invoke thee, knowing thee not? For he who knows thee
not may invoke thee as another than thou art. It may be that
we should invoke thee in order that we may come to know
thee. But "how shall they call on him in whom they have not
believed? Or how shall they believe without a preacher?"
Now, "they shall praise the Lord who seek him," for "those
who seek shall find him," and, finding him, shall praise him. I
will seek thee, O Lord, and call upon thee. I call upon thee, O
Lord, in my faith which thou hast given me, which thou hast
inspired in me through the humanity of thy Son, and through
the ministry of thy preacher.
Glory be…..
Excerpt from Confessions, Book I, Chapter I
