What you should know about prayer
By praying we admit our limits and our needs. We are God’s creatures. Our beginning and our end escape our control. Often we sin, turning away from our Father in heaven. Yet, life puts us to the test. We are not the masters of our own adversities. We realize that we need help and we plead with God. We beseech him, we struggle with prayer.

First step: Reconciliation -
“How can I, a sinner, plead my case before the Lord?” Thus, the first step of our prayer of petition is oftentimes the awareness that we have to turn back to the Father and like the tax collector in the parable we say: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

Second step: Praise and Worship - 
After being reconciled with God the Father, not sin but love, stops our personal entreating. Our heart is now centered on the will of God and we know, from Jesus' teachings, that we must be concerned first with the glory of the Father and the coming of His Kingdom. That is, we discover that there is a hierarchy in our prayers of petition, and that God comes first. Thus, we understand that the heart of our prayer must be the co-operation with God’s plan of salvation and the sharing in God’s saving love.

Third step: Thanksgiving and Petition -
Now we are thankful because we share in God’s saving love, and we understand that every need of ours can become the object of prayer. Finally, we are truly able to present our personal petitions to the Father, through the intercessions of Jesus and of His Mother Mary, and also by the intercession of Jesus’ Mystical Body, the Church, with the help of the people who pray for us.

II. A reminder
The prayer request is not a substitute for personal prayer: You have to pray on your own as well. If you need ongoing support you are encouraged to contact a priest at your local churchs.    
iii. Place your request Your request should be very short and could fall under the following five categories: thanksgiving, healing, deliverance, blessing and guidance..          
Please, tell your request and end it using the following or a similar format: - (Thanksgiving) ... Please thank God for ...
- (Healing) ... Please pray that God heals (name of person) of ... - (Deliverance)... Please pray that God delivers (name of person) from ...
- (Blessing)... Please pray that God blesses (name of person) with ... - (Guidance) ... Please pray that God guides (name of person) in ...

IV. Answered prayers          
Please let us know when your prayer is answered, so we can thank God and rejoice together.

To tell us about a prayer answered, please fill out the following form: