Some points about prayer
 

• The Catechism of the Catholic Church dedicates one of its four parts entirely to prayer.
• Prayer has always been a tradition of the Church.
• “Prayer is a friendly conversation with the One we know loves us” St. Teresa
• You learn how to pray by praying.
• We are not the ones who pray, the Spirit within us is the one who prays.
• Prayer requires a discipline
• Prayer is awakening to the reality of the presence and love of God.
• Prayer is a path to self-knowledge and freedom
• Prayer is a way to inhabit the mystery of God´s Love within us, within others, within all creation.
• Prayer is a way to find God always and everywhere.
• Prayer is an embrace of love and mercy.
• Prayer is beyond judgments.
• Prayer is a way to compassion and unity.
• Prayer is a call to peace and justice.
• Prayer is the way to allow God more space in our lives so he can accomplish his goal of saving us.
• Prayer is the joy of being a beloved creature of God.
• Prayer is GRATITUDE, HOPE, FAITH AND LOVE (AGAPE).
• Prayer is falling in love with God and forgetting about ourselves.
• Prayer is not about feeling good.
• Prayer is seeking, finding and doing God´s will.

The importance of silence:
1 Kings 19:10-13
And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

The process of silence
The exterior world: events, noises. DETACH.
The corporal world: RELAX.
The mental world: internal noises, imagination, memories, projects, feelings, grudges, thoughts, etc. LET GO.
It is not about getting rid of everything, but about  making everything part of your encounter with God.

Deepening our vocal prayers

Vocal prayer and rhythmical recitation: A good way to become aware of the words and meaning of our vocal prayers such as the Our Father or the Hail Mary, is rhythmical recitation. The idea is to make your breathing go along with the words. So you take air in and when you let it out you say one word of the prayer and so on. These calms you and helps you go into silence and it also gives you time to let each word plant its meaning in you.

The Our Father: Be aware. Reflect on each one of the petitions. What does it mean for you?
The Rosary: Contemplate the mysteries. Put yourself in the scene of each of the mysteries and take a moment of silence being there with Jesus, observing Him.
 
Deepening our prayer through the Sacraments
Sacraments are not things; sacraments are people being themselves, being transparent, revealing God to others. When you come to the sacraments:
Be aware
Celebrate

Praying with the Bible

One of many possible methods to read the Bible: The double reading
“The Bible is a diverse literary expression of the awareness gained on an experience of God, an experience of God that is felt and lived in the community. By experience of God we mean the following: when you feel from within that you have to commit yourself with someone or with something; that you have to lay down your life for others, that is experience of God. The purpose of the communities that wrote the books of the Bible was to create clean individuals. A clean individual is one that does not seek his own wants but cares more for others than for him/herself.” (Fr. Gustavo Baena, S.J. S.T.D.)
The Bible can be read from an anthropological point of view, this is just seeking for the human aspects of its contents and production. It can also be read from a theological point of view, this is seeking for how God is revealing himself to humanity in the moment the text was written and most importantly how is God revealing himself to me/us today through  Scripture.  This two points of view or approaches to Bible Study can and should go together. The following method can help in the process of reading to discover both aspects of the Scripture.
If you are reading Scripture, start by acknowledging the presence of God in you by greeting Him. Do an opening prayer, this means that all the reading is prayer, you are trying to understand God´s revelation to you through Scripture with the aid of the Holy Spirit, and you put all you are into it: your will, your memory and your understanding.
Start reading the fragments you selected. Consider the following:
a. What is the Context in which the text was written? (Social, Political, Economic, Religious aspects)
b. What does the text say? This may appear obvious, but it isn´t. We easily read to quickly and don’t really stop to consider what the text is saying word by word.
c. What is the purpose or the intention of this text? Why did the Christian community write this text? What aspects of God´s revelation were they trying to put forward? What ways of achieving a committed, peaceful and joyful Christian life are being established in the text?
d. What does this text say to me? How does it speak of my personal experience of God´s revelation? What does it invite or moves me to? Keep in mind that our Bible Study must help us grow in our Faith, Hope and Love, our personal relationship with God and our conversion towards becoming other christs, becoming the presence of Christ in our family, our community, our Church.

End with a prayer thanking the Spirit for his light in this study and asking the Father through the Son to help us bring to our everyday life the insights we had.
 
God “detectives”, the importance of a spiritual journal

Prayer is to become aware of God´s loving presence in every moment, person, etc. God is always with us but we usually fail to see Him/Her. A life of prayer is a life of awareness. Have a notebook and try to write down each day all the ways in which you found God that day, moving you to faith, love, and hope in your heart, through others, through nature, through events.
 
 A moment of silence:
 
Find a quiet place where you can be alone with your loving Lord.
Assume a comfortable position (not so comfortable that you would fall asleep).
Become aware of the presence of the Lord with you and within you.
Prepare yourself for this encounter with a dear friend.
Read:
 
The Father
knocks at my door
seeking a home for his son:
 
Rent is cheap, I say.
 
I don't want to rent.  I want to buy, says God.
 
I'm not sure I want to sell,
but you might come in and look around.
 
I think I will, says God.
 
I might let you have a room or two.
 
I like it, says God.  I'll take the two.
You might decide to give me more some day.
I can wait, says God.
 
I'd like to give you more,
but it’s a bit difficult.  I need some space for me.
 
I know, says God, but I'll wait.  I like what I see.
 
Hm, maybe I can let you have another room.
I really don't need that much.
 
Thanks, says God.  I'll take it.  I like what I see.
 
I'd like to give you the whole house
but I'm not sure --
 
Think on it, says God.  I wouldn't put you out.
Your house would be mine and my son would live in it.
You'd have more space than you 'd ever had before.
 
I don't understand at all.
 
I know, says God, but I can’t tell you about that.
You'll have to discover it for yourself.
That can only happen if you let him have the whole house.
 
A bit risky, I say.
 
Yes, says God, but try me.
 
I'm not sure—
I'll let you know.
 
I can wait, says God.  I like what I see.
(Margaret Halaska O.S.F.)
 
Reflect:
Do you experience God looking for you, trying to be a part of your life?
Are you willing to rent your house (surrender yourself)to Jesus Christ? How many rooms have you given up to Him? Concretely how? What rooms do you keep for yourself?
Conversation: Opening up your heart and knowing that God accepts and loves you without limitations, conditions or judgments have a friendly conversation with Jesus. Tell him whatever you want, tell him about your sorrows or your joys, ask him, listen to him, or just share a loving silence with Him.
Thank God for this time together, plan a new encounter, etc.
 
 Lectio Divina
 
Pick a scripture passage and pray with it following these 4 simple steps.
Lectio Reading. What does the text say? What words speak to me?
Meditatio Meditation. How do this words remind me of Jesus Christ?
Oratio Prayer. What concrete aspect of my life is being challenged?
Contemplatio Contemplation. How am I moved? What feelings and desires come up? How am I invited to action?
 
Prayer of petition and or intercession:
God´s will is present in our deepest longings. We need to know our desires. We need to discern the Spirit in those desires.
We need to distinguish between:
Petitions that move me towards myself and
Petitions that move me towards God and others
The pure petition: “May your will be done”
God always answers but our ways are not God´s ways.
Praying for others (intercession) is already breaking the movement towards ourselves.
 
An exercise: Sitting in the lap of God to hear the story of my life.
Take time to go into your quiet spot with God, and let God tell you the story of your life. Go slowly, year by year, experience by experience trying to discover God´s presence in your life. After your prayer, write down the most important instances of God´s presence in your life that you discovered. Do several repetitions.
  
Praying with all we are: (Ignatian Meditation)
Memory, Intellect, Will, Imagination, and Senses; Soul and Body.
 
 Prepare
 
Know what you are going to pray about and the grace you are looking for. Do the readings before. What we usually would do is:
After going to bed, just when I want to go asleep, to think, for the space of a HAIL MARY, of the hour that I have to rise and for what, making a resume of the Meditation which I have to make. When I wake up, not giving place to any other thought, to turn my attention immediately to what I am going to contemplate in the Morning prayer. And I will dress with thoughts according to the subject I am going to pray on.
 
Praying with the body: To enter on the contemplation now on my knees, now prostrate on the earth, now lying face upwards, now seated, now standing, always intent on seeking what I want. We will attend to two things. The first is, that if I find what I want kneeling, I will not pass on; and if prostrate, likewise, etc. The second; in the Point in which I find what I want, there I will rest, without being anxious to pass on, until I content myself, for it is not abundance of knowledge that satisfies the soul but the feeling and savouring of things internally. 
 
Getting into prayer: (10 min)
 
Presence: A step or two before the place where I have to contemplate or meditate, I will put myself standing for the space of an OUR FATHER, my intellect raised on high, considering how God our Lord is looking at me, etc.; and will make an act of reverence or humility.

PSALM 51
 
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 
9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 
11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. 
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. 
14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 
 
Preparatory Prayer: (ALL) Lord that all my intentions, actions and operations may be directed purely to the service and praise of His Divine Majesty.
 
Subject Matter:
 
Luke 15: 11-32
 
11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. ' 22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. 25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' 28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' 31 " 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'
 
Silent Meditation: (40 min)
 
First Prelude. The First Prelude is a composition, seeing the place. Applying imagination and senses to the Gospel. Use your imagination to enter the Gospel scene we are meditating. Imagine the place where Jesus told this parable to the disciples, put yourself into the scene as one of the characters. Apply your senses: see, hear, touch, smell, taste. Imagine the place where the son is away from home, imagine the Father/Mother back home, imagine the coming back of the son, put yourself into the scene as one of the characters. Apply your senses: see, hear, touch, smell, taste. Is it cold? How does the pig´s food smell? How do the son and the father feel while away from each other? What are their feelings when the Bridegroom finally arrives?
 
Second Prelude. The second is to ask God our Lord for what I want and desire. LORD GRANT ME GROWING AND INTENSE SORROW AND TEARS FOR MY SINS (Feel free to use your own personal petition. The PETITION, is a way of centering yourself during the meditation, if you are distracted, repeat the petition and get back to your meditation.)
 
First Point. Apply memory. Go over the events occurred in the Gospel you read.
 
Second point. Apply Intellect. Ask yourself what is Jesus trying to say when he tells this parable? What does this mean?
 
Third Point. Apply will. Ask yourself what does this move me to do? What is the Lord´s will revealed to me by the meditation of this word? What am I going to do to respond to this word in my everyday life?
 
Colloquy. ( 5 min.) A conversation with the Trinity, Jesus, Mary or a saint. The Colloquy is made, properly speaking, as one friend speaks to another, or as a servant to his master; now asking some grace, now blaming oneself for some misdeed, now communicating one’s affairs, and asking advice in them.
 
Closing our prayer moment: Say out loud an Our Father and a Hail Mary.
 
Examen:
 
After finishing the meditation or contemplation, I will, during the space of a quarter of an hour, seated or walking leisurely, look how it went with me in the contemplation or meditation; and if badly, I will look for the cause from which it proceeds, and having so seen it, will be sorry, in order to correct myself in future; and if well, I will give thanks to God our Lord, and will do in like manner another time. I will also ask myself: What is God moving me to do or change in this meditation?
 
Night Prayer:
 
Daily Examen
 
First Point. GIVE THANKS to God our Lord for the benefits received.
Second Point. ASK FOR GRACE. Ask grace to know our sins and cast them out, and to know how God has revealed you his will through the events of the day, where He is moving you.
Third Point. GO OVER YOUR DAY LIKE A MOVIE. Ask yourself: Where is God moving me today? Ask account of our soul from the hour that we rose up to the present Examen, hour by hour, or period by period: and first as to thoughts, and then as to words, and then as to acts.
Fourth Point. BEG FORGIVENESS. Ask pardon of God our Lord for the faults.
Fifth Point. PLAN HOW YOU WILL AMEND. The fifth, to purpose amendment with His grace.
 
 
About the petition: The one who prays is the Spirit. When we prepare our prayer the night before we write down a petition that comes from the readings but mostly comes from us, the grace we want, during prayer through the points the Spirit might modify that petition. In the examen of prayer we see how God has changed this petition. In the night examen we see how through the events of the day God has granted us this petition as we asked it or as he willed to do so and we see again how he changes that petition, so this goes onto our petition for the next day prayer until the issue us resolved or something else arises. This way we are always discerning, life is centered in God and the Spirit is praying actively within us and revealing us God and His Will.
 

 
IGNATIAN CONTEMPLATION
 
Preparatory Prayer: ask grace of God our Lord that all my intentions, actions and operations may be directed purely to the service and praise of His Divine Majesty.
First Prelude. The first Prelude is to bring up the narrative of the thing which I have to contemplate.
Second Prelude. The second, a composition, seeing the place.
Third Prelude. The third, to ask for what I want: it will be to ask for interior knowledge of the Lord, Who for me has become man, that I may more love and follow Him.
First Point. The first Point is, to see the various persons.
Second Point. The second, to hear what the persons are saying.
Third Point. The third, to look then at what the persons are doing and then to reflect in order to draw some profit from each of these things.
Colloquy. At the end a Colloquy is to be made, thinking what I ought to say
to the Three Divine Persons, or to the Eternal Word incarnate, or to our Mother and
Lady, asking according to what I feel in me, in order more to follow and imitate Our
Lord.