The CotoBuzz Journal : The Power of Prayer: The Paraphrase and Compendium of the Gospel.

If you have never read the Bible, but want to know what is in it, take one minute and read the Our Father: it's a paraphrase

And if you want more detail, just read the Rosary. It's a compendium.

Just like there are levels of worship, there are levels of prayer. Within Christianity, distinct forms of worship are found, each one of them carrying specific connotations and finding different devotional expressions. These levels of venerationare traditionally known as dulia, proskynesis, hyperdulia, and latria. Where latria is reserved for the type of worship due to God alone. These other three types of veneration are used to refer to the veneration given to angels, saints, relics, icons, and the Virgin Mary. Indeed, veneration is a type of honor distinct from the true worship (that is, adoration), which is due to God alone.

The types of prayer in the Bible include. Vocal prayer: Using words either audibly or mentally. Meditation: Focusing on God or meditating on some mystery without words. Intercession: Praying for the needs of other people. Prayer of thanksgiving: Showing gratitude for what God has done. Prayer of worship: Recognizing God's power and greatness. Contemplative prayer: Using the mind, heart, and sometimes imagination to recognize God's presence. Prayer of authority: Exercising God's authority

Some authors group prayers in categories, such as:

—Purgative Way—
1. Vocal Prayer
2. Mental Prayer
3. Affective Prayer
4. Acquired Recollection
Bridge: Dark Night of the Senses
—Illuminative Way—
5. Infused Contemplation
6. Prayer of Quiet
Bridge: Dark Night of the Soul
—Unitive Way—
7. Simple Union
8. Conforming Union
9. Transforming Union

The Corpus Christy Blog describes nine Grades of Prayer ;

Grades of Prayer 1 & 2
Grades of Prayer 3 & 4
Grades of Prayer 5
Grades of Prayer 6 & 7
Grades of Prayer 8 & 9

Ecstatic prayer is a type of prayer that involves heightened emotions to connect with the divine. It can involve a sense of joy, fervor, and an overwhelming presence of God. Ecstatic prayer can lead to spiritual experiences that go beyond traditional boundaries. It can promote personal transformation and community bonding. L
It can involve a sense of God's presence through physical aspects of worship, such as music and movement.

In Catholicism, ecstasy is a term used to describe a state where a person is completely occupied by God.

Ecstatic prayer can involve practices such as praying in tongues and praying with verbal icons.

How to Pray: the Ladder of Monks

Father Mark-Mary's Podcast Rosary in a Year Podcast illustrates the Ladder of Monks

Lectio Divina, “Divine Reading”, refers to an approach to prayer and scripture reading practiced by monastics since the early Church.

In the 11th century, a Carthusian prior named Guigo formalized how to pray in a letter written to a fellow religious. This letter is known as The Ladder of Monks and describes a four-runged ladder to Heaven, each rung being one of the four steps in his method of prayerful scripture reading:

Lectio (reading): An attentive, slow, repetitious recitation of a short passage of scripture.

“looking on Holy Scripture with all one’s will and wit”

Meditatio (meditation): An effort to understand the passage and apply it to my own life.

“a studious searching with the mind to know what was before concealed”

Oratio (prayer): Engaging or talking with God about the passage.

“a devout desiring of the heart to get what is good and avoid what is evil”

Contemplatio (contemplation): Allowing oneself to be absorbed in the words of God as the Holy Spirit draws us into His presence through scripture.

“the lifting up of the heart to God tasting somewhat of the heavenly sweetness”

Those who scoff at the power of prayer- like the scientists at the New York Times, reject Sacred Scripture and deny the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Not only did Jesus teach his disciples how to pray the pater noster (Our Father,) Jesus himself as a child, learned to pray from his earthly father.

"Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 「But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:" 1 John 2

You may recall the story of sisters Mary and Martha as told by Saint Luke in Chapter 10. Martha is worried about the day to day things, while Martha listens to Jesus: "Martha had a sister named Mary [who] sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” should I worry first and pray later?

In the piece How to Use the Old Testament in Daily Prayer Father Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap writes about how Jesus, as a child learned to pray from his earthly father. "In France I once saw a statue carved out of a huge tree trunk. The statue portrayed the young boy, Jesus, sitting on Joseph’s lap. Joseph had his arms outstretched around Jesus holding out before both of them a scroll and together, with mouths in full voice, they were singing the Psalms in prayer. By praying the Psalms with his foster father, Jesus came to know the love and kindness of his eternal Father, and so came to know that he was truly the Father’s Son. The Psalms and Canticles of the Old Testament are to be foundation of our Christian prayer – of praying to the Father in union with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Any of us who have prayed the Psalms know that they express the whole range of human emotions and feelings – joy, sadness, fear, love, praise, anger, etc. We tend to gravitate to those Psalms that express the emotion that we are presently experiencing. If we are sad because of the death of a loved one, we pray Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd;/ there is nothing I lack."

The Catholic Catechism cites Tertullian as saying that the pater noster (Our Father) is a paraphrase of the whole gospel: The Lord's Prayer "is truly the summary of the whole gospel." - Tertullian, De orat. 1: PL 1, 1155. "Since the Lord . . . after handing over the practice of prayer, said elsewhere, 'Ask and you will receive,' and since everyone has petitions which are peculiar to his circumstances, the regular and appropriate prayer [the Lord's Prayer] is said first, as the foundation of further desires." - Tertullian, De orat. 10: PL 1, 1165; cf. Lk 11:9. - (CCC 2761)

In paragraph (2559) the CatholicCatechism teaches “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or “out of the depths” of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not know how to pray as we ought,” are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. “Man is a beggar before God.”

While the pater noster is a paraphrase of the gospel, as Tertullian stated, the Rosary is a compendium of the gospel- it reflects on the whole liturgical cycle that the Church commemorates during the course of each year

There are twenty mysteries reflected upon in the Rosary, divided into the five Joyful Mysteries, five Luminous Mysteries five Sorrowful Mysteries and five Glorious Mysteries. The mysteries of the Rosary are based on the incidents in the life of Our Lord Jesus and His Mother that are celebrated in the Liturgy. Some of the Popes have referred to the Rosary as a compendium of the Gospel

While the New York Times thinks prayer is overrated, Saint Padre Pio views prayer as a weapon. “Prayer is the best weapon we possess, the key that opens the heart of God. Saint Philip Neri's Maxim for November

11 reads "It is an old custom with the servants of God always to have some little prayers ready, and to be darting them up to heaven frequently during the day, lifting their minds to God from out of the filth of this world. He who adopts this plan will get great fruit with little pains."

Faith and Works

The calling of the Christian is to live a life of faith and action. Saint James in Chapter 2 tells us "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone may say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called “the friend of God.” See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route?.For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." Pray for the hungry and feed him

When All You Have Left is Faith.

You know about faith, about works and about faith and works, and all you have left is faith.

After months of battling several maladies, my sister suffered a number of strokes that have letter unable to move and unable to speak. Doctors have tried a number of procedures, including tomography, yet they have no clue as to what to do next.

For months, we have been to praying to Saint Judas Thaddaeus, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes to intercede for us - Saint Judas Thaddeus is venerated by millions of people worldwide, he is believed to have miraculous powers, and his intercession is often sought for difficult or seemingly impossible situations. Prior to her strokes, I thought I was praying for a number of desperate cases. These were not desperate cases. We continue to ask for Saint Judas' intercession. In the end, God's will be done.

Thy Will or Your Will?

Choosing to believe the New York Times or Padre Pio, largely determines whose will is more important; yours or God's? As C. S. Lewis writes: "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened."