WHEN DO WE PRAY?
It is essential to establish a regular time to pray. Pick a time in the morning and evening to offer your prayers to God. If you do not have much time in the morning to pray because of your preparation for school, say a short prayer immediately after waking up. Usually, we thank God for His daily blessings and ask Him for protection during the day. Even a short prayer is better than no prayer.
Creating a habit of daily prayers is essential in building our spiritual health. At first, you will struggle to maintain what seems like a simple discipline as there are hostile forces that will try and keep you from regular prayer.
Your time in prayer will grow as your relationship with God grows. But there will come a time when you can’t wait for the time to pray. Expect a struggle in the beginning to maintain a strict schedule. As the famous saying goes, “Just do it!”
Think of prayer time as an appointment with God. Don’t become so busy and overwhelmed with the daily activities that you overlook your work with God. Like any appointment, this includes meeting Him at a specific time and place. Let your prayer become a joyful expectation to meet the Lord personally. He is always there for you and will always listen to your prayers. But please do not put prayer as one more thing “you have to do” on your to-do list. Remember, we need God all the time.
Be aware of making excuses not to pray. Everyone is under the pressure and stresses of our overactive lifestyle. Think about all those things that you put as a priority in your daily life. Where does God fit in your busy schedule? God is not sympathetic to those who do not choose to put Him first. It is true that He knows our struggles and has great compassion for our condition, and He is willing to help us deal with them. But we first must make an effort to be in a relationship with him and, with humility, seek His help.
Praying unceasingly means:
- Pray in the morning when you wake up
- Pray in the evening before going to bed
- Pray before and after meals
- Pray before making an important decision
- Pray before going on a trip
- Pray when you are ill and when you experience any ailment
- Pray to avoid temptations
- Pray when you are in danger
- Pray before you begin any work
- Pray when you feel sad, undecided, and unsure
- Pray when you are happy and when you feel wonderful
Remember to make your prayer life a firm rule and not something you do occasionally or sporadically.
PRAYER AT HOME
Find a quiet private place where you will not be disturbed by your daily prayer. It can be your bedroom or a particular room that is only for prayer, and it needs to be a place where you can be undisturbed and alone. However, if you are praying with your siblings and parents, having a particular icon corner or prayer corner is preferable inside your house.
Once you choose the place inside your home, you should set up a small home altar or home icon stand. On it, place an icon of Jesus Christ, Holy Theotokos, your patron saint (your Slava icon), guardian angel, or any other image you like. You can have as many different icons as possible in your bedroom.
A family prayer corner usually has an oil lamp or candle to light during prayer time. Additionally, it can contain holy oil for anointing, hand cross, holy water, or any other blessed or religious item.
Our Orthodox Tradition requires that the icon stand or corner be on an Eastern wall, so you are facing east when you pray, just like you do in Church. However, this may not be possible in every house. We pray facing East because that is the direction of the sunrise. Sunrise represents an “icon in nature” of the resurrection. Also, when Christ returns for the Second Coming, He will appear in the east. Use the most convenient room if you do not have a space for prayer that doesn’t face east. You must create an area that is comfortable and welcoming to your prayer during the times you pray.
PRAYER AT CHURCH
Outside our prayers, which we usually offer at home, we are encouraged to provide a communal prayer when attending our local Church’s worship service. Most of us participate in Divine Liturgy, another form of prayer. During the Liturgy, we offer thanksgiving and praise to God and our brothers and sisters from the local church community. When we pray during the Divine Liturgy, we do not say individual prayers, but we offer joint prayers for the salvation of all. In other words, our prayers cannot be private but a part of the collective thanksgiving to God and a mutual pleading to Him for our souls’ health, protection, and salvation.
WHERE ELSE CAN WE PRAY?
Pray when you are on the bus to and from your school;
Pray in the park or the arena before playing your favorite sport or a game;
Pray in the hotel room when you are on the road or on vacation;
Pray when you are walking or running in the field.
We can pray anywhere, at any place, and at any time. Remember, it is not the place that determines the quality of your prayer; it is the attitude of the heart and the purity of your soul that desires to unite with God.
HOW DO WE PRAY?
St. Meletius the Confessor explains it perfectly with this saying: “Prayer needs no teacher, and it requires diligence, effort, and personal love, and then God will be its teacher.”
- Do not rush your prayers.
- Pray with attention, humility, affection, and tears.
- Pray with joy and thanksgiving and genuine repentance and purity.
- Pray with patience and from the depths of the heart.
- Pray with faith and absolute trust in God.
- Focus on what you are asking from God.
- Keep your awareness in your heart and concentrate on the words of the prayer.
- Incorporate standing, prostrations, kneeling, making the cross sign, reading, and singing.
- Use prayer books and written prayers whenever you can.
- Be sincere when you pray.
- Once you establish a rule, always keep it.
- Prayer must become a daily habit that you never forget.
- Be sure to ask your spiritual Father (parish priest) for guidance.