WHAT IS PRAYER? WHY SHOULD I PRAY? To answer the question “What is prayer,” we must realize that our search leads, not to an activity, but to a way of being. Prayer is less a function and more a disposition. Indeed, prayer, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) tells us, is “a vital and personal relationship with the living God…the living relationship of the children of God with their Father” (nn. 2558, 2565). To understand the meaning of prayer, we must be willing to be consumed by God’s unbounded gift of divine love. Like Mary at the Annunciation, we must be eager to respond personally to that utter self-giving with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
