An Imperfect Prayer: Learning to Pray Out Loud and on the Spot
This week I’m in the throes of resting. This is my last full week of the school year before my daughters start summer break (how is it summer already?!). I’m trying to balance getting a few essential things done while giving myself a little mental break before I’m mom-ing 24/7 for the next two and a half months.
About two weeks ago I had the privilege of attending a women’s retreat at a nearby parish. I jumped at the opportunity to grow in my spirituality and potentially meet some other faithful women in my town. During the retreat, our presenter, Sheri Wohlfert, shared with us a formula for praying with people. Like outloud, spontaneous prayer. I don’t know about you, but this was a fairly foreign concept to me, reserved for the Evangelical Protestants who simply pray differently than we do.
Sheri gave us a simple, four step process for praying with others. You begin with a simple chat, asking how the other person is doing and how you can pray for them. Then you begin the prayer by calling upon God (Heavenly Father, we praise you/God we adore you/Come Holy Spirit). Then you mention your specific prayer request, something like “Today we ask your blessing for ____ who needs ____.” Then you close in Jesus’ name. That’s it! The whole process is quick and the prayer only needs to be a few sentences long. The words don’t have to be perfect, just as long as you approach the other person and God with sincerity and honesty.
As a Catholic mom, I’ve been working on modeling spontaneous prayer with and for my kids. (Check out this blog about that.) I’ve also gotten into the wonderful and practical habit of pausing and praying immediately (in my head) when someone asks for prayers. I realized that if I didn’t, more often than not, my overloaded brain forgot and I never prayed for that person at all. I have grown my personal prayer time to be an honest conversation from my heart instead of only the recitation of memorized prayers.
But I have never walked up to someone, asked them how I could pray for them, and done so on the spot out loud. At least, not before this week.
On Wednesday, as my committed hour of Adoration was drawing to a close, a young woman I’d never seen before came in. We exchanged smiles, and I resumed my reading. Within minutes, I heard her crying—the tears of a hurting soul. One of the many gifts of motherhood is the ability to discern the meaning behind tears. I felt her pain.
Tears are not uncommon in our small Adoration chapel; Jesus has a profound way of pulling our pain right to the surface when we sit silently with him. He does this so that we can confront our wounds and let him heal them. He does this because he loves us.
My heart felt compelled to pray for this woman. I put my book down, knelt, and offered prayers for her, whatever her sorrows may be. Then my replacement Adorer arrived, so I packed up my book and prepared to leave.
That’s when the Holy Spirit stopped me. I heard in my head, “Do you remember that thing I just taught you two weeks ago? It’s time to put it into practice.”
Obediently (and slightly nervously, to be honest) I sat down next to the woman and asked her if I could pray for her. She readily agreed, so I asked her if there was something specific I could pray for. She then briefly told me her story, about how she was baptized into the Catholic faith as a teen, how she’d been away for too long, trapped by sin, and how today she heard Jesus calling her to himself. By his grace alone, she listened. She opened her heart to let him start the healing process.
I put my hands on her and prayed. I didn’t have perfect words. I didn’t even know what I was going to say when I started. All I knew was that this woman needed prayers, and the Lord asked me to pray with her today.
I left Adoration that day and thought about the divine opportunity, both for the young woman and for me. I don’t know how Christ will continue to work in her life, but I know that something beautiful happened in that chapel. I know that next time, praying out loud (even with a stranger) will be more natural and comfortable for me. I know that I let something I had learned actually change the way I behaved.
This is what it’s all about. To borrow the phrase from Fr. Mike Schmitz, “It’s not about a transfer of information, it’s about transformation.” We read inspiring blogs, listen to spiritual talks, and engage with holy content. But does it actually transform us? Does our behavior reflect the stirrings in our hearts when we learn these things?
I’m no expert on praying with others, but I see the power in this practice. I believe I learned this formula so I would be equipped for this past Wednesday in Adoration. I want to keep letting Christ shape and mold me into the woman he created me to be. How about you? Are you ready to be transformed? Will you pray with someone this week? I want to hear about it!
Copyright 2024 Maria Riley
Cover Image: Canva
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