Quotes - Prayer
When we pray, the voice of the heart must be heard more than proceedings from the mouth. - St. Bonaventure
You don't love in your enemies what they are, but what you would have them become by your prayers. - St. Augustine
Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness. - St. John Chrystostom
The greater the charity of the Saints in their heavenly home, the more they intercede for those who are still on their journey and the more they can help them by their prayers; the more they are united with God, the more effective those prayers are. This is in accordance with Divine order, which makes higher things react upon lower things, like the brightness of the sun filling the atmosphere. - St. Thomas Aquinas
We set forth our petitions before God, not in order to make known to Him our needs and desires, but rather so that we ourselves may realize that in these things it is necessary to turn to God for help. - St. Thomas Aquinas
I give spiritual consolation in prayer, now in one way, now in another. But it is not my intention that the soul should receive this consolation foolishly, paying more attention to the gift than to me. - God the Father to St. Catherine of Siena
Prayer is a pasturage, a field, wherein all the virtues find their nourishment, growth, and strength. - St. Catherine of Siena
Seek by reading and you will find by meditating. Knock by praying, and it will be opened to you in contemplation. - St. John of the Cross
Silence is God's first language. - St. John of the Cross
Before prayer, endeavor to realize whose Presence you are approaching, and to whom you are about to speak. We can never fully understand how we ought to behave towards God, before whom the angels tremble." - St. Teresa of Ávila
Mental prayer is nothing else but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him. - St. Teresa of Ávila
Much more is accomplished by a single word of the Our Father said, now and then, from our heart, than by the whole prayer repeated many times in haste and without attention. - St. Teresa of Ávila
There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers. - St. Teresa of Ávila
There is no danger if our prayer is without words or reflection because the good success of prayer depends neither on words nor on study. It depends upon the simple raising of our minds to God, and the more simple and stripped of feeling it is, the surer it is. - St. Jane Frances de Chantal
Prayer is nothing else than union with God. When the heart is pure and united with God it is consoled and filled with sweetness; it is dazzled by a marvelous light. - St. John Vianney
God looks neither at long nor beautiful prayers, but at those that come from the heart. - St. John Vianney
Never forget that it is at the beginning of each day that God has the necessary grace for the day ready for us. He knows exactly what opportunities we shall have to sin, and will give us everything we need if we ask him then. That is why the devil does all he can to prevent us from saying our morning prayers or to make us say them badly. - St. John Vianney
It is an old custom of the saints of God to have some little prayers ready and to be frequently darting them up to heaven during the day, lifting their minds to God out of the mire of this world. He who adopts this plan will obtain great fruits with little pain. - St. Phillip Neri
Give me a person of prayer, and such a one will be capable of accomplishing anything. - St. Vincent de Paul
For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. - St. Thérèse of Lisieux
My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice, these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words. I know it by experience. - St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Love is the soul of every life of prayer and of every good work. - Jesus to Ven. Concepción Cabrera de Armida
I want souls who are dedicated with fervor, with determination and without looking for rest, to plead day and night for my priests. - Jesus to Ven. Concepción Cabrera de Armida
In all my prayers, the first cry from my heart is to ask graces for my husband and my children. It is obvious I expect everything from above, front this infinitely bountiful God and from Mary, the Mother of us all, to whom I have entrusted and commended them in a very special way. She will be their shield, their light, their guide, their dearly beloved protectress. A loving devotion toward her will save them from all the dangers of this wretched world, so full of perils. Oh Mother, help us, clothe us all with the mantle of Your purity, never abandon us until our eternal happiness has been assured. O Mary, encompass Your purity around my children! May they never stain their soul, so much loved! May they ever be devoted to God! May He alone be their very breath and life. Oh Virgin, watch over, safeguard them! They are Yours before they are mine. - Ven. Concepción Cabrera de Armida
With a great effort, which was not my own, I helped him die a good death. I saw him agonize and expire, then, right after I had kissed his forehead, I began to pray. As soon as he died I put in his hands the crucifix I always wear over my heart. I took it away after I had laid him in his coffin. I opened his eyes, the color of the sky. I kissed his forehead and bade him farewell. Now he is no longer mine... Oh Mother of sorrows, Mother who understands a mother who has just lost her beloved son, at Your hands, through Your stainless heart, offer my own son to the Most Holy Trinity that in my name and as something God had given me, it may be glorified. - Ven. Concepción Cabrera de Armida
The stillness of prayer is the most essential condition for fruitful action. Before all else, the disciple kneels down. - St. Gianna Molla
Prayer is the oxygen of the soul. - St. Pio of Pietrelcina
In books we seek God; in prayer we find him. Prayer is the key which opens God's heart. - St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Be souls of prayer. Never tire of praying, it is what is essential. Prayer shakes the Heart of God, it obtains necessary graces! - St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Pray, hope and don’t worry. Anxiety doesn’t help at all. Our Merciful Lord will listen to your prayer. - St. Pio of Pietrelcina
It is true that God's power triumphs over everything, but humble and suffering prayer prevails over God Himself. - St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Pray with perseverance, with faith, with calmness and serenity. - St. Pio of Pietrelcina
The sacred gift of prayer is in the right hand of our Savior, and according to the measure that you empty yourself of yourself, that is of love of your senses and of your own will, and make progress in rooting yourself in holy humility, to that extent the Lord will speak to your heart. - St. Pio of Pietrelcina
You don't know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and as soon as you have said, "Lord, I don't know how to pray!" you can be sure you have already begun. - St. Josemaría Escrivá
You go to pray; to become a bonfire, a living flame, giving light and heat. - St. Josemaría Escrivá
Pray very much for the Pope, bishops, and priests. Since your Baptism you have always prayed faithfully for them. Continue to pray very much...very much. - Our Lady of Akita to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa
We must love prayer. It widens the heart to the point of making it capable of containing the gift that God makes of himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will be widened to welcome him and to keep him within itself. - Bl. Teresa of Calcutta
Pray for us. Pray for those we aid. And pray for our sisters, our brothers, and our co-workers, that we will not waste God's work because of our selfishness, thinking it is we and not he working through us, who carries out everything by means of us, in us, and with us. - Bl. Teresa of Calcutta
A family that prays together stays together. As we are united at this moment, let us join also the prayer of all and everyone. What you can do I cannot do. And what I can do you cannot do. But all of us together are doing something beautiful for God. - Bl. Teresa of Calcutta
Prayer can truly change your life. For it turns your attention away from yourself and directs your mind and your heart toward the Lord. If we look only at ourselves, with our own limitations and sins, we quickly give way to sadness and discouragement. But if we keep our eyes fixed on the Lord, then our hearts are filled with hope, our minds are washed n the light of truth, and we come to know the fullness of the Gospel with all is promise and life. - St. John Paul II
Prayer ennobles and dignifies the Christian, putting him in the harmony of submission and gratitude to God, who gave himself entirely to men, making them participate, by means of his Son, in his own divine life. Can there be a greater and deeper communication? Through personal prayer, through prayer in the home and even more through liturgical prayer, man is reborn every day, in proportion as he assimilates the divine gifts and puts them into practice in his conduct, until he really becomes a close friend, a son of God. To pray is to set up a family, to build a community, to attach oneself in a salvific way to the new and definitive Covenant, sealed by Christ in the sacrament of love: the Eucharist. - St. John Paul II
If you really wish to follow Christ, if you want your love for him to grow and last, then you must be faithful to prayer. It is the key to the vitality of your life in Christ. Without prayer, your faith and love will die. If you are constant in daily prayer and in the Sunday celebration of Mass, your love for Jesus will increase. And your heart will know deep joy and peace, such as the world could never give. - St. John Paul II
Christ remains primary in your life only when he enjoys the first place in your mind and heart. Thus you must continuously unite yourself to him in prayer.... Without prayer there can be no joy, no hope, no peace. For prayer is what keeps us in touch with Christ. - St. John Paul II
The Holy Spirit is the gift that comes into man's heart together with prayer. In prayer he manifests himself first of all and above all as the gift that "helps us in our weakness." This is the magnificent thought developed by St. Paul in the Letter to the Romans, when he writes: "For we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words" (8:26). Therefore, the Holy Spirit not only enables us to pray, but guides us "from within" in prayer: he is present in our prayer an gives it a divine dimension. - St. John Paul II
The human being of all times prays because he cannot fail to wonder about the meaning of his life, which remains obscure and discomforting of it is not put in relations to the mystery of God and if his plan for the world. - Pope Benedict XVI
Praying actualizes and deepens our communion with God. Our prayer can and should arise above all from our heart, from our needs, our hopes, our joys, our sufferings, from our shame over sin, and from our gratitude from the good. It can and should be a wholly personal prayer. - Pope Benedict XVI
The interior life thus becomes more and more a conversation with God, in which man gradually frees himself from egoism, self-love, sensuality, and pride, in which, by frequent prayer, he asks the Lord for the ever-new graces he needs. His interior conversation changes so much that St. Paul can say, “Our conversation is in Heaven.” - Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
Prayer takes the form of petition, of adoration, and thanksgiving; it is always an elevation of the soul toward
God. And God answers by recalling to our minds what has been said to us in the Gospel, and what is useful for the sanctification of the present moment. Did not Christ say, “But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring all things to your mind whatsoever I shall have said to you” (John 14:26)? - Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
I pray the breviary every morning. I like to pray with the psalms. Then, later, I celebrate Mass. I pray the Rosary. What I really prefer is adoration in the evening, even when I get distracted and think of other things, or even fall asleep praying. In the evening then, between seven and eight o’clock, I stay in front of the Blessed Sacrament for an hour in adoration. But I pray mentally even when I am waiting at the dentist or at other times of the day. - Pope Francis
Without prolonged moments of adoration, of prayerful encounter with the word, of sincere conversation with the Lord, our work easily becomes meaningless; we lose energy as a result of weariness and difficulties, and our fervor dies out. The Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer, and to my great joy groups devoted to prayer and intercession, the prayerful reading of God’s word and the perpetual adoration of the Eucharist are growing at every level of ecclesial life. - Pope Francis
One form of prayer moves us particularly to take up the task of evangelization and to seek the good of others: it is the prayer of intercession. Let us peer for a moment into the heart of Saint Paul, to see what his prayer was like. It was full of people: “…I constantly pray with you in every one of my prayers for all of you… because I hold you in my heart” (Phil 1:4, 7). Here we see that intercessory prayer does not divert us from true contemplation, since authentic contemplation always has a place for others. - Pope Francis
When evangelizers rise from prayer, their hearts are more open; freed of self-absorption, they are desirous of doing good and sharing their lives with others. - Pope Francis
The only thing the Holy Spirit asks of us is that we give him our time, even if at the beginning it might seem like lost time. I will never forget the lesson that was given to me one day in this regard. I said to God, “Lord, give me fervor and I will give you all the time you desire in prayer.” I found the answer in my heart: “Raniero, give me your time and I will give you all the fervor you want in prayer.” - Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap.