You've got to pray just to make it today...

It might be time for a change of pace. It seems like we've reached an impasse on the issues addressed and there's little movement toward a common position. I thought we'd talk about something more constructive. What is the nature and purpose of prayer?

My personal beliefs can be summarized thusly:

• Prayer is for us more than God. It changes us.
• Prayer is commanded by God, especially for one another.

The latter is self-explanatory. The former I will unpack a bit. I'll warn you now, this connects to my idea of God as dispassionate fire. Before I begin, I'd like to give my own struggle with prayer. My family used to all pray together every night. Our prayers were, naturally, somewhat childish and conversational: help us with this and that, make Grandma feel better, thanks for letting us go to Chuck E. Cheese, etc.

Always, as a child, I had the belief that talking to God was like talking to an adult. Don't offend Him. Show respect. If you're disrespectful, He'll be mad. Later, I added things (not sure where I got them), like God doesn't want to talk to me if I have unconfessed sin (meaning I have to be moving in the right direction at least) and thinking of my relationship to Him as a marriage. For instance, if I was cheating (and God knows when I'm cheating on Him), it would be bad to talk to my wife as if nothing was happening.

Then, I began to look into Catholicism, especially the Rosary and other devotions as well as the liturgy. I began to see a new dimension to prayer. I learned, through the RCC, of both the corporate and the contemplative types of prayer (this is a WONDERFUL website for rosaries and chaplets). The former seemed more dutiful and the latter more deep. Yet, I still had my hangups, especially the marriage thing.

Finally, I learned about meditative prayer through Orthodoxy in addition to more about contemplative prayer by reading Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. In addition, through Orthodoxy, I began to believe (or understand) that prayer did not affect God in any way. Neglecting it did not anger or sadden Him and practicing it did not make Him happy. Prayer was for me, it changed me, it made me in His image.

So, as you may have guessed, I compartmentalize prayer into four categories:

• Conversational: We talk to God in a manner similar to other humans. We tell Him our worries, thank Him for His blessings, and intercede for others. The entire process makes us feel closer to God and, especially with intercession, we learn to care for others.
• Corporate: Corporate prayer is kind of like conversational in that it has the same goals. The main difference is that we do it together. We pray with one voice with those around us, with those who have died and with those yet to be born.
• Contemplative: This prayer encourages us to contemplate God. In the Rosary we reflect on the Incarnation, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. In the Divine Mercy chaplet we contemplate the Blood of Christ. Brother Lawrence, at all times of the day, deliberately imagined himself in the God's presence.
• Meditative: This form of prayer is much like Buddhist meditation. However, where Buddhists seek to lose themselves in the cosmos (achieving unity with all by having no self), Christians seek deeper union with God. My three favorite prayers in this vein are:
• The prayer of the repentant thief - Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
• The Jesus prayer (or just the name of Jesus) - Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
• The Adjutorium - O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.
  

Ultimately, I now believe that I should pray all the time, especially when I am sinning, because it will give me the strength to live a more holy life.