Catholicism’s Toolbox of Prayers

Mark Roberti, Director of Stewardship, Heartland Parishes of Ellis County 

Contrary to what some may believe, Catholics do not believe that only Catholics go to heaven.  We do believe that Catholicism is the fullness of the Christian faith…and of all faiths. We, likewise, believe that we have a distinctive edge. We’re following the game plan Christ laid out, the very center of which is the celebration of the Eucharist at Mass.

When Jesus redeemed the world, He redeemed the whole world.  But, we each have a role to play. In a sense, we are co-redeemers with Christ.  No, we could never do anything to earn our own salvation or that of others, but God wills that we all participate in the salvation of the world through our good stewardship…through our prayers and actions. 

That’s symbolized as we bring the gifts to the altar at Mass. The bread and wine, and the offertory envelopes, are the fruits of our human hands.  The raw materials – the bread, the wine, and the time, talent, and treasure to earn the money – represent our contribution. Yet, even they are gifts from God.  In the Eucharistic Prayer,
the Father is asked to send his Spirit to transform them into Christ for us: "bread of life" and "spiritual drink." 

So, we conjoin our offering with Christ’s, and vice-versa. In this process we are adorned in Christ’s holiness.  But that doesn’t just happen in Mass itself.  At the dismissal, the priest says, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” That call to stewardship, to evangelization, to discipleship, is in loving and serving one another and the world. There is holiness in that.       

Our sanctification and that of the world is the work of a lifetime, not a one-time proclamation.  We, as Catholics, have the biggest toolbox to make it happen. We have the sacraments.  There is no greater power on earth to sanctify the world. We have Eucharistic adoration. We have Lent. We have a repository of prayer, like none other.  We have the Mother of God, the saints, the martyrs, the Sign of the Cross, the Liturgy of the Hours, the Stations of the Cross, the Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and other chaplets. We have sacramentals like baptismal fonts, stained glass windows, relics, sacred medals, statues, icons, scapulars, and other blessed objects…I could go on and on. 

All of these are meant to bring us to habits of holiness.  They are meant to bring us to unity with God and our fellow man.  You remember from your catechism classes that in order to get to heaven we need to be in a state of sanctifying grace.  Another term for sanctifying grace is habitual grace.  We have to be in the habit of opening ourselves up to the torrent of graces God showers upon us at each moment.  We want our cup facing up to receive those graces, not down where graces cannot enter.

Having a bigger toolbox does not necessarily mean that all Catholics use that tool box. In this article I am suggesting seven ways we can move toward a state of habitual grace.  Don’t try to implement them all at once.  Work into them gradually. Your immediate thought may be that you would never have the time to do all that.  Actually, the opposite is true.  You will find you have more time and more quality time.  You will simply need to weed out wasteful habits such as watching too much TV, spending too much time on the Internet, going to bed late, lingering in bed in the morning, etc.  Good spiritual habits become a spiritual discipline to guide us toward holiness.

The seven habits of holiness are: 1) Immediately after waking up, get on your knees and make a morning offering of your thoughts and actions of the day to God. Use either a formal prayer or a spontaneous prayer (I recommend formal); 2) Pray the rosary daily (I recommend using a scriptural rosary booklet that gives scriptural meditations for each mystery); 3) Go to Mass and Communion Daily; 4) Spend fifteen minutes a day in mental prayer conversing with and listening to God; 5) Do the Angelus at noon; 6) Do spiritual reading; 7) Examine your conscience before going to bed each night and strive to do better the next day.

Make a commitment to the Holy Spirit to persevere.  Set a definite, yet flexible, schedule to do each of these prayer activities and find a quiet place to pray.  Remember, you are making appointments with the King of the Universe.  If you were meeting with the President of the United States you would be there.  What’s he in comparison to God?  On the other hand, God’s schedule is not as tight as the President’s. He can flex with you.  Weed out your bad time habits and replace them with these good habits of holiness.

You will be amazed at the difference this stewardship of time – stewardship of prayer – will have in your life.