Not everyone alike.

Prayer is for the pious and other world people but not for me. Prayerful people are real peopledown to earth, truly involved, and very human. They pray a price not in order to be divorced from reality but in order to live life fully. The Desire to Pray is Crucial The desire to pray is itself a clear sig of the Lords presence. W cannot reach out to him unless he first draws us. Good prayer means bringing our real concerns and responsibilities before the Lord and learning to hear what he has to say about them.

What is not good: To look upon prayer as a way to manipulate God, to use him to accomplish our own desires. God speaks in many ways. It is true that everything that happens, everything that we do, is a revelation of God to us. But not every revelation by God to us is a genuine encounter for us. The art of listening is at the heart of genuine prayer. As we learn to listen with attention and sensitivity, all the events of our lives become encounters with the Lord, become a prayer. Beginners: formal prayers Advanced: seek God in all things Those who pray spontaneously No director, and no manual can tell us how we must grow.. Prayer is experience and is utterly personal. There is no single method of prayer and no one way to encounter God. But, spiritual life is about growth and chance. Always On The Way Even the proficient prayer of simple depth must grow, and a t times that growth will entail a shaking of the foundations. Time of Transition. A prayer book is like a cook book. We read it in order to be guided in our action. Prayer is experiential. The What and Why Of Prayer

The value of Prayer: Discernment. i How does one discovers Gods will among the many choices that confronts us? When I pray, how do I know that it is God I am talking to and not myself?

The basic touchstone of all discernment is the scripture. To know Gods will is basically to test our inspirations against the scriptures in which God is revealed to us through his Son. For the Christian, God has revealed himself by a Son whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he also created the world (Hebrew 1:2). Jesus himself is the revelation of the Father to men and women. In his life, we find the patterns of our lives as Christians, the followers of Christ. Paul exhorts to his followers, be imitators of me as I am of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). The second basic rule for the beginners is the following: for those who are sincerely seeking to serve and love God, he always works in peace and usually slowly. When we face an issue to discern, we ask.How do you feel about it when you are most at peace?-when you are at prayer and quite (not emotional) and most open to whatever the Lord wants? However, God works very slowlythere is no short cut to holiness. The seed that springs quickly because the ground in shallow dies quickly. (Mark 4:5-6). The final rule for the beginner is this: Real growth and knowledge of God and sensitivity to his will normally requires a good spiritual director. In general, the sacramental principle works in our lives: God works through human instruments, in forgiving, in consecrating and in revealing his will. For example, Paul had to go to Ananias to learn Gods message from him (Acts 9:17-17).

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Thomas Green, Opening to God, a Guide to Prayer. (Manila: St. Pauls Philippines, 2006) 51-61.