Prayer Life
A prayer life is something you need to say 'ýes' to. At first I found it a bit difficult. I found all sorts of prayers that I would do daily, but something was missing. What I missed was a direct conversation with God. So I had to teach myself to pray silently, to talk to God or to be in silent communication with Him. Praying literlly means to invoke God, and to be in communication with God. The most frequently used excuse to not pray is to say we don't have the time.
​
In the words of Peter Kreeft: The only effective answer to that excuse, I find, is a mind of murder. You have to kill something, you have to say no to something else, in order to make time to pray. Of course, you will never find time to pray, you have to make time to pray. And that means unmaking something else. Deciding to do that is the first thing. And you probably won’t decide to do it, only wish to do it, unless you see prayer for what it is: a matter of life and death, your lifeline to God, to life itself.
My favorite prayers
​
We are of course all familiar with our daily prayers such as the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, Creed, Glory to the Father, Fatima prayer and of course the Rosary. Below are some of the special prayers that I came across along the way, most of them from the iPieta app.
The best prayer ever
I learnerd this prayer from Father Nars Beemster, excellent priest and exorcist of the
Haarlem Dioces. He told me to do this whenever something strikes me like
anger, irritation, sadness, rejection, jealousy, fear, or whatever causes me pain.
It works every time, and never fails to give a feeling of peace.
Keep your mouth shut, learn how to bite your tongue,
press a crucifix to you heart and pray silently:
​
Jesus, I will carry this together with You, because I cannot do it alone.
Guardian Angel Prayer by Saint Gertrude the Great
O most holy angel of God, appointed by God as my guardian angel,
I thank you for all the benefits you have ever bestowed on me in body and soul.
I praise and glorify you for agreeing to help me with such patient fidelity
and defend myself against all the attacks of my enemies.
Blessed be the hour in which you were appointed my guardian,
my defender and my patron.
In recognition and return for all your loving ministries to me,
I offer you the infinitely precious and noble heart of Jesus,
and the determination to obey you henceforth and to serve my God most faithfully.
Amen.
​
Morning prayer
Good morning Father. Dear, beloved Father.
I love you with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my mind.
I thank You for my life and the life of my family. Thank you Father for all you have done for us.
Thank You Father for our health. Thank you Father for your love and for your protection.
Father, I offer you my Free Will today, please unite it with Your Divine Will.
Show me what You want me to do today, and help me, my beloved Father, to accomplish it.
Good morning mother, mother of all mankind.
I love you, my beloved mother. Thank you for Your love and protection.
Today I renew my consecration to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart
and to the Sacred Heart of your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus.
Please Mother ask Saint Joseph to protect me and my family this day
and intercede for us. I thank God for my beloved guardian angel
and for all the guardian angels of my family.
I ask their intercession and protection for each of us today.
Amen
Prayer against all evil
Spirit of our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity,
Immaculate Virgin Mary, angels, archangels and saints of heaven, descend upon me.
Please purify me, Lord. Form me, fill me with yourself, use me.
Banish all evil forces from me, destroy them, make them disappear, so thati healthy
can be and do good deeds.
Banish from me all spells, witchcraft, black magic, malice, bonds,
curses and the evil eye; diabolical plagues, oppressions,
being possessed; all that is evil and sinful, jealousy, infidelity, envy;
physical, psychological, moral, spiritual and devilish afflictions.
Burn these evils to hell so that they may enter me or any other creature
never be able to touch the whole world again.
I command and command all powers that harass me - by the power of Almighty God,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary -
to leave me forever and be sent to eternal hell,
where they will be bound by Archangel Michael, Saint Gabriel and Saint Raphael,
our guardian angels, and where they will be crushed under the heel of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.
Amen.
Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Heavenly beauty and splendor of the Father, you are the most esteemed
Heavenly treasure.New Eve, immaculate in soul, mind and body, Created of the
divine seed by the Spirit of God, Thou art the spiritual Mother of mankind.
Pure Virgin, full of grace then and now, You were exalted Heavenly in full glory,
To be exalted above all hosts within the Kingdom of God.
O Heavenly Mother, Queen of Heaven and earth, I recognize the glory of your highest title,
The Immaculate Heart of Mary!
Loving Mother, bestower of endless blessings, Thou who continually intercedes for us,
please submit my need to your loving Son Jesus.
(Make your special request here in your own words. Don't just say anything. Speak to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as you
to another person, and beseech your Heavenly Mother to beseech Jesus on your behalf, that this special request be granted)
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, I know that you now submit my need to Jesus,
for you have never rejected anyone in great need.
Dear Mother, I await your favorable answer, submitting to the divine will
of the Lord, for all the glories are His forever and ever.
Amen
Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee,
O Virgin of virgins, my mother;
to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.
Come Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and enkindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.
And you shall renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray.
O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit,
did instruct the hearts of the faithful,
grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise
and ever to rejoice in His consolation.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Magnificat
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
And his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations.
He hath shewed strength with his arm.
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat
and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things.
And the rich he hath sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel
as he promised to our forefathers Abraham, and his seed forever.
Amen.
Prayer for self-discipline
Father, I come to you today in need of self-discipline.
My heart feels weak and my mind is disturbed.
I come in need of your grace and power.
Holy Spirit, come present Yourself in my life.
Where there are temptations, help me to deliberately walk away from them.
Where there are distractions, help me to stay focused and true to the things you have called me to.
Where there are obstacles before me, may Your light shine a way through.
Lord, I ask that with Your strength and love to guide me so that I might live a simple and holy life.
Corinthians 13
If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous,
love is not pompous, it is not inflated,
it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child,
reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face.
At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three
but the greatest of these is love.
Amen
Pater Pio intercession
Dear God, You generously blessed Your servant, St. Pio of Pietrelcina,
with the gifts of the Spirit.
You marked his body with the five wounds of Christ Crucified,
as a powerful witness to the saving Passion and Death of Your Son.
Endowed with the gift of discernment, St. Pio labored endlessly in the
confessional for the salvation of souls.
With reverence and intense devotion in the celebration of Mass,
he invited countless men and women to a greater union
with Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
Through the intercession of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, I confidently
beseech You to grant me the grace of
(here state your petition).
Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen (3 x).
Prayer of Miraculous Trust
to the Lady of Tepeyac (Guadelupe)
This prayer is to help you turn things over to God,
trusting that once you have done so, whatever
He then allows is for your eternal good and that of those you love.
It lets you ask what you want of God, then closes by abandoning yourself
to what God wants of you.
Do not say it more than once for any particular intention,
as this is an abandonment to trust
Begin by asking for the help of Our Lady of Tepeyac,
then cross yourself and say:
By the power of Our Lord, Jesus Christ;
to the honor of Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception;
in service to her Immaculate Heart;
I ask you Lord (state intention here and ask for the intercession of the saint of your choice).
I thank you for hearing my prayer.
Thy will be done.
Amen.
Cross yourself again, and give it over to God entirely with trust.