Prayer is so hard to try to comprehend. We have our memorized / learned prayers, we have our conversations with God, we have meditative prayer. We have private prayer and we have prayer as groups. The Mass is one of the greatest ways we pray.
When I was a Catechist for 10th graders going to be Confirmed, I had the segments on prayer as the youth moved from Catechist to Catechist that year.
There are 5 types of prayer:
Adoration and Blessing - adoring God and God's gift and us acccepting
Petition - asking for something (forgiveness, etc..)
Intercessory - on behalf of
Thanksgiving - giving thanks and the Eucharist (which means thanksgiving)
Praising - how Glorious our God is
More on these 5 types from the CCC.
One thing that I try to remember and have told the youth is that we can live our life as a prayer. What we do and how we act is an expression of prayer if we are leading a good life and following the actions and examples of Jesus and Mary. The two greatest examples of who we should try to strive to act like.
What ever you do, do it as prayer. Think about what you are doing and offer it as a gift to God. Do all things with your greatest love and charity and do all things to your greatest ability. That is when you live your life as prayer.
Lead by example.
If we fall, the good news is we can ask for forgiveness (petition) and get right back in line to follow the path that He has put before us. We choose the direction to go - make it count! That is where we will find our key to happiness.
