Why communal prayer

Scripture is at the heart of our prayer and is recognised as where the presence of God is primarily experienced. Good Samaritans gather around the Word, recognising that Christ is present in the Word, and Christ is present in the people gathered.

Prayer and quiet contemplation allow time to recognise and respond to the invitation to enter into the presence of God, opening the possibility for inner growth and listening hearts. The psalms are the core element of these prayers, expressing every emotion and mood of the human heart. It is a sacred time of reflection on the Word of God, during which we pray for the needs of the other and our world. It marks the hours of the day through meditation on the psalms and scripture.

An ancient form of prayer practised by Good Samaritans is Lectio Divina — a prayerful, contemplative reading of the Word of God. This involves reading slowly and listening intently to Scripture personally or communally. Regardless, that joining together, uniting our voices, listening for God together, is critical to the life of the church and to our own personal life in Christ. It allows us to remember that faith is not mine or yours, but a gift of God in Jesus Christ. Faith is not something that I choose, but over and over again God chooses me.

I have learned that most about praying in the community by being a parent. When our son was born six years ago, we knew we wanted to pray as a family, but had no idea how. We started by praying before meals and at bedtime. The desire of my husband and I was that our son, even at age 1, would be an active part of praying, not passively wondering what mommy and daddy were doing.

So we pray by saying thank you. Our prayers are simply thank you God for. As soon as he could talk, he started filling in this blank. Some days he is most thankful for trucks, snow, Skylanders, Legos, Grandma or Grandpa, or candy! We never know what he will say. But what we all do know is that we have something to be thankful for. Ministry and prayer in the community reflects this time of prayer in my family.

When I go to write prayers for worship or offer a prayer at a gathering I start and end with thanksgiving. So the next time you are wondering what in the world to say during a community prayer, say Thank You. Personal prayer, on the other hand is that in which an individual, or even group of individuals, offer their own personal praise to God. Such prayer is called individual prayer, even if is prayed in large groups for example people praying a rosary for peace constitutes personal prayer , for in this prayer it is not the entire body of Christ that is praying, but individuals.

In the life of a Catholic, both forms of prayer are necessary. There are times when we need to be united with the entirety of the Body of Christ. In such times we band together, united with Jesus Christ as our head, to offer proper worship to God. There are also times when we need to come to the Lord as individuals, worshipping God in ways specific to our own identity as individuals.

Such worship, of course, must not contradict our communal worship e.