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How to Pray

Prayer is one of the simplest and most profound things a person can do, yet it can also feel mysterious or intimidating when you’re just beginning. This brief guide offers a gentle introduction to Catholic prayer: what it is, how to start, and how to let it grow naturally in your daily life.

Whether you are learning to pray for the first time or rediscovering it after years away, these pages will help you begin a genuine conversation with God.

🕊️ What Is Prayer?​

“Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.”
— St. John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith

“Perhaps we could put it best by saying that the mystical coming together of these two longings—our longing for God and God’s longing for us—is prayer.”
— Bishop Robert Barron, An Introduction to Prayer

At its heart, prayer is the living conversation between God and the human person. It is both a gift and a response. God always initiates the dialogue, drawing us to Himself, and we, in freedom and love, respond.

“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”
— John 15:16 (NABRE)

To pray is to lift our minds and hearts to the Lord, to enter into His presence, and to allow His grace to shape our desires.
Whether you are beginning to pray or seeking to renew your spiritual life, prayer is where friendship with God deepens and the soul finds peace.

🙏 Getting Started with Prayer​

It’s perfectly all right not to know how to pray.

In fact, that humility—the simple admission that we need God’s help even to pray—is the best place to begin.

“The Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.”
— Romans 8:26 (NABRE)

If you don’t know what to say, start by telling God that.

You might pray something like:

“Lord, I don’t know how to pray. Teach me.
Let Your Spirit pray in me and lead my heart to You.”

God delights in that kind of honesty. Prayer is not a performance; it is a relationship. It grows through trust, not technique.

📜 Borrowing the Church’s Words​

Prayer is ultimately a conversation with your friend, Jesus Christ. Like any deep friendship, it can help to begin with familiar words, the ones spoken for centuries by those who loved Him before us.

The Church’s traditional prayers give us a language for that conversation. They teach us what to say when our own words feel small, and they gently shape our hearts so that, over time, prayer becomes less about getting words right and more about resting in love.

These traditional prayers are not meant to limit our prayer life but to form and inspire it.

Start small: borrow the Church’s words until your own words awaken.

💫 How PrintPrayPeel Helps​

Every PrintPrayPeel sticker page includes prayers tied to its theme or saint, offering traditional words to guide your creative time. As your hands move and your eyes focus, your heart can rest in God, with prayer becoming embodied in the act of creating.

✨ A Rhythm for Prayerful Making​

  1. Begin in silence
    Before you speak a word, pause. As St. Mother Teresa said:

    “The fruit of silence is prayer; the fruit of prayer is faith; the fruit of faith is love; the fruit of love is service; the fruit of service is peace.”

    This stillness opens the space for God’s presence. Sit quietly for a few breaths and let the noise of the day fade away. The Holy Spirit already prays within you (Romans 8:26).

  2. Make the Sign of the Cross
    When you trace the Cross, you step into sacred space and into the very life of the Trinity. You are speaking to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.

    As Bishop Barron notes in An Introduction to Prayer, this act draws us into a peculiar intimacy with God. You are no longer alone; you are praying within the life of the Trinity.

  3. Pray the words of the Church
    Use one of the traditional prayers listed on each sticker page. These are not rote formulas but living words, drawn from Scripture and centuries of faith. They help you speak with the saints and join their unending praise before God’s throne.

  4. Pray according to the four rules of prayer
    As Bishop Barron teaches in An Introduction to Prayer, the Bible reveals certain “rules” that open the soul to grace:

    • Pray with faith: Believe passionately that God can accomplish what you ask.
    • Pray with forgiveness: Let go of resentment so divine mercy can flow through you.
    • Pray with perseverance: Return often; each sticker you create becomes another opportunity to pray.
    • Pray in Jesus’ name: Align your desires with the heart and will of Christ.

    These attitudes shape prayer into friendship rather than transaction, allowing it to transform you from within.

🌿 Continuing the Journey​

Prayer is not a skill to master but a friendship to deepen.

Every time you turn your heart toward God—whether through words, silence, or the quiet rhythm of making—you are already praying.
Let these small practices become moments of grace throughout your day.

To go deeper, explore the Church’s rich treasury of prayer and teaching on the life of faith:

🙌 Ready to Begin?​

If you’d like to start praying right now, you can:

However you begin, remember: the smallest act of turning toward God, even cutting a single sticker with intention, can become an act of love.

“Pray without ceasing.”
— 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NABRE)