God created everything – directly or indirectly. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere, but it is also all-good and is love. He is the primary cause of the world.
However, when he created humans, he gave us free will. We are still bound by the laws of physics and other laws. We are secondary causes of why actions occur.
God has a “will” for each of us to love Him and love each other. “Divine providence” is God’s interest and action in guiding his creation to perfection. God is neither a puppet-master nor an uninterested watchmaker.
God does not “plan” every action we take. When bad things happen, it wasn’t necessarily part of “God’s plan.”
God shares his strength and power with us. God allows us to be co-workers with him. And when we pray we are drawn into even more intimate relationship with Him. And that kind of prayer and relationship definitely changes something else… it changes us.
Prayer is different than only saying prayers. Prayer is ultimately a relationship of love with God. It’s a communication on the deepest level. Prayer is an act of God within our soul by which God invites us to believe in Him, to follow Him, and to love Him.
Prayer Develops & Strengthens a Relationship with God
Praying Helps Us Make the Right Decision
Prayer Give Us Direction in Life
Prayer Helps Us Avoid Temptations
Prayer Allows Us to Be Present
Miracles Can Happen Through Prayer and Faith
Prayer Invites God into Our Daily Activity
Praying Helps Alleviate Anxiety
We Gain More Confidence Through Prayer
Prayer Helps Us Understand God’s Will
Our Father
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, & forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, & lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death.
Thomas Merton Prayer
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen.
Prayer of Saint Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Saint Michael the Archangel
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.
Fatima
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell; lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who have most need of your mercy.
Come, Holy Spirit - Come Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of us your faithful, and kindle within us the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. Oh God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructed the hearts of your faithful, grant, that by the same Spirit, we may be made truly wise and ever rejoice in your counsel.
Seek the Lord (St. Benedict)
Father, in your goodness grant me the intellect to comprehend you, the perception to discern you, and the reason to appreciate you.
In your kindness endow me with the diligence to look for you, the wisdom, to discover you, and the spirit to apprehend you.
In your graciousness bestow on me a heart to contemplate you, ears to hear you, eyes to see you, and a tongue to speak of you.
In your mercy to confer on me a conversation pleasing to you, the patience to wait for you, and the perseverance to long for you.
Grant me a perfect end – your holy presence.
Serenity Prayer
O God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Morning Offering
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart in union with the holy sacrifice of the mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my relatives and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father.
Litany of Humility
O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, hear me. Deliver me, Jesus, from the DESIRE of being… esteemed, loved, honored, praised, preferred to others, consulted, approved, deliver me, Jesus, from the FEAR of being… humiliated, despised, suffering rebukes, calumniated, forgotten, ridiculed, wronged, suspected. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it, that others may… be loved and esteemed more than I, increase and I may decrease, be chosen and I set aside, be praised and I unnoticed, be preferred to me in everything, become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should.