We have seen how the Church professes the mystery of our faith in the first part of our class; we have seen how the Church celebrates these sacramental mysteries in part two of our class; and we see how the church recommends we live our lives through Christ and his mysteries in the past five weeks. Now, we move into the fourth and final section - Christian Prayer, which is the culmination of the faith and celebration into a personal relationship with God.

What is Prayer? - "Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God, or the requesting of good things from God" (St. John Damascene, De fide orth, 1085 AD)

• God calls each person to an encounter with him through the mystery of prayer.
• In the Old Testament, the Psalms constitute the masterwork of prayer. They have two inseparable qualities - the personal and the communal.
• Jesus teaches us prayer in the New Testament - the "Our Father"
  1. which is "The most perfect prayer"
  2. Summary of the whole gospel
  3. Integration of the sacramental celebration
• Types of Prayer:
1. Blessing and Adoration - like it seems, this is a type of prayer expressing love and awe
2. Petition - Requesting forgiveness
3. Intercession - Asking on behalf of another
4. Thanksgiving
5. Praise
• Mary – we pray in communion with her
• Family – primary place to learn about prayer; Christian School role also important.
• Three forms of prayer:
1. Vocal
2. Meditative
3. Contemplative
• Times to pray include regular daily prayers, liturgies, etc
• Erroneous Views of Prayer
• Psychological activity (ritual repetition or words to gain mental peace)
• An escape (excuse) from action
• Failure of Prayer
• Difficulties in Prayer
1. Distraction
2. Dryness
3. Temptations in Prayer
4. Lack of Faith
5. Getting mad b/c our prayer is not answered