We can say that the purpose of life is to become fully alive by awakening to God's gracious, transformative presence in one's life and responding to that presence by making a gift of ourselves to God in love.

To become fully alive is to say, "I know who I am. I know the values I live by." To become fully alive is to find one's voice, to come into self-possession. It is to accept one's past failures and faults, living in the present with peace and looking to the future with faith and hope.

We become aware of God's gracious love through the beauty of creation and the gift of others. To respond in love means giving loving service to one's neighbor and entrusting one's self to God's providential care. Such a gift always involves sacrifice, a laying down of one's own life. Jesus' own life, which culminates in his death and resurrection, is the model and pattern for what it means to awaken and respond to God's loving presence.

Prayer then is a sharing of our hopes and our fears, our joys and our sorrows, our very life with God as we awaken and respond to God's loving presence in our life. Our prayer becomes complete when we raise our minds and heart to God the Father through Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. We often ask Mary, the saints or the angels, those who have totally surrendered themselves to God in love, to help us complete this same process in our lives.

Sometimes our prayers are prayers of praise and thanks for God's mighty works in our world or in our life. At other times we need to express sorrow for our unwillingness to recognize or respond to God's presence. Since we always stand in need, prayers of petition are not far from our heart or our lips.

Are there skills we can develop for becoming aware of and responding to God's presence in our life? Yes. Awareness comes from our ability to see what is happening right now and from our ability to take time out to focus our minds and hearts. Can we see God's presence in the beauty and wonder of creation, in one another? In the events of our life? In our pains and sorrows?

In a way that is quite different from every other religion and even other Christian denominations, the Catholic religion helps one see the Divine in the Human and in the very ordinary. Once one sees, then one wants to respond in joy to God's loving presence. In the Catholic Church this is called the Sacramental Principle and is why the Church has the sacraments and sacramentals like holy water and statues and blessings for fields and homes and factories.

The foundations for prayer are laid as we lament that which goes wrong in life and rejoice in the beauty, wonder and goodness of life. The psalms, written by King David and others, are wonderful expressions of those who knew the joys and sorrows of life. When we share these joys and sorrows with God, the Creator, or Christ, the Savior, we pray. In doing so we acknowledge God's presence in our life both in joy and sorrow.

Prayer can be like a glance or a wink, e.g., "Thank you, God" or "Lord, please help me." This kind of prayer is important. It is like stringing cables for a suspension bridge. At some point, however, it is important to examine what kind of bridge a person is building. Only by spending some quality time in prayer can one's relationship grow and deepen as it should.

In life, we wrestle with the fundamental questions of: What is the purpose of my life? Why am I suffering so much? What will I say to God at the moment of my death? How can I ever thank God for all the wonderful gifts I have received? Because life is like a river and we are always moving downstream, we need to take time to look at the big picture. Where am I going (the future)? What can I learn from where I've been (the past)? What is happening now (the present)?

One of the challenges in developing prayer is finding the time for it. To prepare for this type of extended prayer, it is helpful to prepare one's body and mind. To prepare one's body we can sit up straight, gently place our hands on our lap, close our eyes and breathe deeply. As we relax our muscles we focus our minds. We can consciously decide to let go of our worries and concerns. We can focus our hearts by repeating a short prayer like, "Jesus, Savior, have mercy on me." We can learn to let distracting thoughts and noises pass as we might let the sound of a passing airplane or truck pass.

As we enter into a deeper and deeper relationship with God, we face the question of making a gift of ourselves to God. This gift is one of surrender or sacrifice. When we find that we are ready and willing to surrender our life to God in love, not just at the moment of death, but every day, we know we have reached a new level of intimacy with God. At this point, words are no longer needed in prayer, rather prayer consists of two lovers being present to one another.

Over the years, Christians have developed many devotions to assist them in their prayer. Preeminent among these are the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross. There are also many Novenas and prayers to various saints. Each person and various groupings of people are encouraged to participate in those devotions that foster their relationship with God.

The rosary consists of 150 Hail Mary's which people who could not read the 150 psalms could pray. The Rosary consists of the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries or events in the life of Jesus and Mary. By meditating or reflecting on these mysteries and understanding how Jesus and Mary faced the various situations of their life, one can understand and learn how to deal with the events of one's own life with their same spirit.

When Christians were unable to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land the Stations of the Cross were developed. The 14 Stations are: Jesus is condemned to death; Accepting the cross; Falling the 1st time; Meeting his mother; Being helped by Simon of Cyrene; Veronica wiping his face; Falling the 2nd time; Blessing the women; Falling the 3rd time; Being stripped; Being nailed to the cross; Dying; Being taken down from the cross; Being buried. In recent years a 15th Station, the resurrection, has been added.

Jesus himself taught his disciples The Lord's Prayer. It is a summary of the Gospel, the Good News. The first three statements are directed to God.

Our Father reminds us that we are to recognize God as a loving Father and one another as brothers and sisters.

Thy Kingdom Come helps us remember that we are about God's work not just our own and that we have a role to play.

Thy Will be Done makes us aware that God's will, not ours, is central.

In the next four petitions we ask for what we need in order to live life to the full:

What we need each day;
The ability to forgive;
The strength to resist sin;
That evil will not overcome us.