WHY PRAY?

Prayer is doxology, praise, thanksgiving, confession, supplication and intercession to God. “When I prayed I was new,” wrote a great theologian of Christian antiquity, “but when I stopped praying I became old.” Prayer is the way to renewal and spiritual life. Prayer is aliveness to God. Prayer is strength, refreshment, and joy. Through the grace of God and our disciplined efforts prayer lifts us up from our isolation to a conscious, loving communion with God in which everything is experienced in a new light. Prayer becomes a personal dialogue with God, a spiritual breathing of the soul, a foretaste of the bliss of God’s kingdom.

INDIVIDUAL PRAYER

We can spend a brief amount of time each day to thank God for what we have been given, ask for forgiveness for our sinful behavior, pray for the sick and the suffering, pray for those who have passed away and those that we love or hate. These prayers will connect us with the God of our salvation and help recenter our thinking and feelings away from the passions and give us strength to live according to God’s will and Christ’s teachings. The simple Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” can be recited one or more times per day to provide us daily help.

COMMUNAL PRAYER – LITURGIES

In the Gospel of Matthew (18:20), Jesus Christ says that “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them”. This is a direct call to be united in worship as the Liturgies of the Orthodox Christian Church provide for us. By being together we welcome Christ into our lives in a significant way and this provides for the fullness of our Faith. Attending the Liturgical services enable us to hear and reflect on the Scripture readings, confess our sins and participate in the Holy Eucharist.