A VAST CAFETERIA Guide to prayer

Imagine walking into a vast cafeteria. You see an extended salad bar. On the other side is a baked potato bar, a pasta bar, a soup bar, a large line of entrees, a dessert bar and a separate chocolate dessert bar. At the refreshing beverage center, you can get a double orange mint frappuccino. Then, imagine someone going in and never going past the salad bar.

The world of prayer is like that vast cafeteria. We have a tremendously rich and varied inheritance of prayer, yet some people think of prayer simply as saying prayers. Now, saying prayers is good. Jesus taught us to say prayers, but saying prayers is like the salad bar. There is still a tremendous richness to the Catholic world of prayer. It can be helpful to spend some time wandering around that cafeteria and, at times, stopping to have a taste test.

When starting out it’s helpful to define our terms. What do we mean by prayer? Here too, there is a rich tradition of many definitions, and it is worthwhile to concentrate on just a few of them.

One classical definition comes from Saint John Damascene, who described prayer as the raising of the mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God. Saint Augustine defined prayer as an exercise in holy desire. He would say that everyone has a prayer. What you desire in the depth of your being is your prayer. Saint Teresa of Jesus, better known as Saint Teresa of Avila, one of our greatest teachers of prayer, spoke of prayer as a conversation among friends and spending time with the one who you know loves you. Jumping to the present day, Pope Francis has called prayer the breath of faith. It is how our faith breathes, how it continues to live.

Obviously, the greatest prayer we have is the Mass and the Eucharist. That is what we call the source and summit of our faith. Some of the other types of prayer include: Lectio Divina, different methods of Christian meditation, the Book of Psalms, the Liturgy of the Hours, devotional prayers, art and prayer, the Rosary and Eucharistic Adoration.

I encourage you to explore and taste test some of the richness that makes up the vast cafeteria, the wonderful patrimony of prayer that is ours.

Don’t miss these upcoming Eucharistic Revival events taking place in our diocese in 2023:

Relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis and Saint Manuel Gonzales Garcia

• May 1: Our Lady of the Presentation Parish, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

• May 2: St. Patrick Parish North, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

By Father Joseph Cisetti

• May 3: Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, St. Joseph, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Corpus Christi Vigil Mass and procession

• June 10: Cathedral of St. Joseph

Corpus Christi Sunday Mass and procession

• June 11: Holy Cross Parish to St. Anthony Parish

In His Real Presence Eucharistic Congress

• Sept. 9: Our Lady of the Presentation Parish

Learn more at kcsjcatholic.org/comehome