Methods of Praying 
General articles on prayer.
Silent retreats’ rising popularity poses a challenge: How to handle the quiet
The headline in the monthly Ward 5 newspaper described what sounded like an antidote to the nonstop iPhone-checking, list-making, ladder-climbing, goal-setting, Washington mind-set: “Refuge for the Metropolitan Hermit.” The article described a postage stamp of a cabin, urbanely designed and gloriously sunlit, standing alone amid four acres of maples and white oaks on a protected… Read More ›
How to Pray Like Jesus
During a recent talk, Fr. Thomas Richter explained that praying like Jesus requires one thing: to desire for God to have his way in your life. As the vocation director for the Bismarck diocese, it would seem that Fr. Tom knows about answered prayers. Bismarck has the second highest per capita vocations in the country,… Read More ›
Attention in Prayer
It may be taken for granted as a rule that the chief benefit which we derive from any private prayer will be in proportion to the attention and fervor which we bring to it when saying it. Without attention to what we are saying or doing, our prayers are apt to become a mere mechanical,… Read More ›
Silence allows people to hear God
Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug 10, 2011 / 12:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- We need to make time for silence in our lives if we are to pray and listen to God, said Pope Benedict XVI in his weekly general audience, August 10. “Silence is the environment that best promotes recollection, listening to God, meditation,” he told… Read More ›
Prayer requires both the right time and the right place
Anyone who wishes to pray must choose not only the right place but also the right time. A time of leisure is best and most convenient, the deep silence when others are asleep is particularly suitable, for prayer will then be freer and purer. ‘Arise at the first watch of the night, and pour out… Read More ›
5 iPhone Apps for the Holy Week
If you plan to make good use of your iPhone or iPod Touch this Holy Week, you might want to install these applications: 1. Way of the Cross – contains colorful images and the traditional text of the fourteen Stations of the Cross. 2. Via Crucis – similar to the the application above, except that… Read More ›
Five Ways to Pray Always: Part 7, Speaking From Silence
[click here to view part six of this seven part series] Speaking From Silence “Talk is cheap,” grumbled a man in front of an airport television after Haiti’s recently returned president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, spoke of peace and reconciliation as key issues for the remainder of his interrupted presidency. Are words cheap or do we speak… Read More ›
Five Ways to Pray Always: Part 6, Eating in Solidarity
[click here to view part five of this seven part series] Eating in Solidarity Most of us spend a good bit of our waking (and even dreaming!) hours thinking about, planning, preparing and eating food. It’s one of those very mundane tasks like reading the newspaper and washing behind the ears. What we eat and… Read More ›
Five Ways to Pray Always: Part 5, Walking With Jesus
[click here to view part four of this seven part series] Walking With Jesus We are accustomed to saying, “I’m going to take a walk”–a phrase which points to a kind of possessive, “I’m in control” attitude. Perhaps it’s because we usually view walking in terms of going somewhere, accomplishing something, getting from here to… Read More ›