When someone “prays” or is “praying,” it means that that person is talking to God, someone else in Heaven, or someone in Purgatory. “Talking” is used loosely here; prayer can be said out loud with our mouths or inwardly with our hearts. They can be recited or sung, with others or alone; in short anything that lifts our minds to conversation to God or His servants is prayer. Usually, when we pray we are asking for something, either for ourselves or for someone else. But that is not the only reason to pray. Prayer can express our gratitude and thankfulness, or be offered in reparation for our sins or the sins of others. They can express just about whatever we want to tell God; they can be acts of faith, hope, love, or be acts of worship, praise, adoration, trust, love, etc. They can be “formal” prayers; that is, prayers that other people (like great Saints) have written and that the Church has approved to be said by other people. Among the greatest of formal Prayers are the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Divine Office, and the Most Holy Rosary. There are lots of other formal prayers, but we don’t have to just recite those when we want to pray. Prayers can be our own words to God. We can talk to God using our own words whenever we want.

It is very important to pray to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The prayers that you offer up to them are by far the most important of your daily prayers. But God wants you to pray to the other people in Heaven, too. Mary, God’s own Mother is one of the most important people next to God that you should pray to. Most people have a hard time saying “no” to their mother, and God is the same way. There is also your Guardian Angel to pray to, and the Saint whom we were named after at our Baptism. Also, if you were Confirmed, there is the Saint that you were named after then. And of course, there are many other Saints and Angels in Heaven to pray to.

We should pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory, because they want to go to Heaven. They have to stay in Purgatory until they’ve paid for the debt of the sins that they have committed. It is a VERY long wait when no one prays for them; so help them out. But you can also pray to them for things. There are many Saints who have had things answered for them when they prayed to the Poor Souls in Purgatory.

How important is it for us to pray? Rather. God was shown us in many places (the Bible, the teachings of His Catholic Church, the lives and writings of His saints) that it is important to pray. In the Gospel of St. Matthew, Jesus Himself said, “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you... If you then who 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 them that ask him?” (Matthew 7: 7, 11)

The saints grew to become Saints by praying. By praying more and more, their love for God grew more and more. Loving God more made it was easier for the Saints to obey Him. They grew very close to Him, and He taught them many wonderful things. We find that, among the things that God has taught us, the importance of praying often and well is one of them. St. Padre Pio (a Saint who was recently canonized) said that: “The person that prays a great deal has a great chance of going to Heaven. The one who prays but little has but a little chance. And he who does not pray has no chance.” St. Padre Pio was not the only Saint to say this; we find similar sayings like this throughout the writings of the Saints.
So we have seen that it is important to pray if we want to get to Heaven. But how should we pray? With perseverance. What does it mean to persevere? To persevere means that one keeps on trying; they don’t give up. When we pray to God, we don’t always get our prayers answered immediately. Sometimes we need to ask a few times, sometimes several times; and sometimes, we need to ask God again and again for a long time. Why? Well, sometimes God likes to be asked more than once. If all we had to do was ask God once for something and we’d get it, then we wouldn’t talk to God very much. I mean, we’d only talk to God when we needed something and then that would be it. God wants us to talk to Him, and more often than when we need something from Him. Also, when we have to ask for something more than once or twice, we’re a little more grateful to God when we get it. All too many times people have asked God for something, and when they get it they forget to thank Him for it. By having to ask more than once, we’re reminded to thank God when we get what we receive.
Another reason why we may have to ask God for something more than once is this: sometimes the thing that we are asking for requires more prayer. For example, say that you wanted to buy a horse. Now, if it was a TOY horse, it wouldn’t take you much time to save up your money to buy one. But, if you wanted to buy a REAL horse, it’s going to take you some time to save up your money to buy it. But if you really want that horse, wouldn’t it be worth it? We actually see an example of this in the life of St. Monica. St. Monica had a son, who for a very long time had led a very bad life. She prayed and prayed and prayed for him for many years. It SEEMED, however, that nothing was happening, that God wasn’t listening to her prayers for her son to amend his life and become a good Catholic. But she didn’t give up hope in God; she kept praying. Then, one day, God did answer her prayers. Her son gave up his bad life and became a good Catholic. But he didn’t just become a good Catholic. He eventually became a priest, then a bishop, and finally a very holy man. This son of St. Monica is the great teacher and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine. Yes, while St. Monica had just prayed for him to become a good Catholic, he became a Saint.

Make sure that you pay attention to your prayers. Pay attention? This means that you are thinking about God or His Mother or the truths of His Catholic Church. In short, try to think about what you’re praying for, of whom you’re praying to. Don’t say your prayers in a hurried or distracted manner. Don’t let you’re mind wander off, miles away from your prayers. There are plenty of things to get distracted by when we are praying, but we have to fight them off! Drive them away from our mind! God is pleased when we try to fight them off. Even if we spend our whole prayer time fighting off distractions, then God is happy. But we have to be fighting them off. When we realize that we’re getting distracted, we have to bring ourselves back to pay attention to our prayers. We can’t give in and remain distracted when we get that way. It’s a struggle, but it’s one that we have to fight if we want to be happy forever with God in Heaven. For if we don’t pray well, we might as well not pray at all. Saints have said that it is better not to pray at all then to pray poorly. Now, that doesn’t mean that, if you keep having trouble praying well than you stop praying altogether. It means that you should try all the harder. If its hard, try to find things to make praying well easier. Find holy pictures to look at while you pray. Do whatever you have to do to make sure that you pray well.

There are many people whom we should and must pray for. We must pray for our parents, our grandparents, and our brothers and sisters. We can also include our friends and relatives. We should also pray for our Guardian Angel and our parents to get the graces necessary to perform their jobs well. Their jobs happen to be helping us save our soul. This is certainly the most important job that anyone could ever have. We have it ourselves, so we should pray that we get the graces we need to save our soul.

There are many other people and things to pray for. The more things that we pray for, the better. For God has said that those who want mercy must show mercy. It is one of the greatest acts of mercy that anyone can do to pray for others.

So, remember to pray every day. There are personal prayers that you should say every day, right after you wake up, before you go to sleep at night, and throughout the day. And make sure that you say prayers together with your family. Before every meal is a must, and a Rosary every day is good to. A ROSARY!! You must be screaming. A WHOLE ROSARY EVERY DAY!?! Yes. “I don’t have the time to say a whole rosary every day!” most people say. But that really isn’t true at all. A five decade rosary only takes 20 to 30 minutes to say. Most television shows only last a half an hour. There are 24 hours in a day. Most people generally spend 16 hours awake. Sixteen hours means 32 half hours. We most certainly can afford to give God one of the 32 half hours that we spend awake. We OWE it to Him. Many monastic communities spend hours every day praying. While God certainly doesn’t expect you to spend hours every day praying to Him, He at least wants a half an hour or more from you. It really isn’t much to ask. Besides, I’m sure that if you looked for the time you could find it.