Faith In America Part Two: How and Why We Pray by Jeff Weiss

This is the second in a series of articles about faith in America.

A recent poll conducted by Parade magazine asked “how spiritual are we?” The results showed that many of the people polled considered themselves religious (45%), and also considered themselves better off with religion as opposed to without it (53%). The majority believe in God (69%) but more said they rarely attend services (30% compared with 27% who attend weekly). While most say they pray for the well-being of others (72%), 51% pray for money or a better job.

I pray every day. I usually don't ask for anything in particular; mostly my prayers are to worship God, not ask for favors. If someone is sick or going through a hard time I will pray for their intentions, but I try not to “bargain' with God through prayers. I think that defeats the purpose of “Thy will be done.”

My favorite prayer, and one that I pray daily, is actually a series of devotional prayers known as the Rosary. For those who don't know what the Rosary is, it is a set of prayer beads, with each bead representing a prayer. The prayers consist of five decades (or repeated sequences) of the “Our Father” (The Lord's Prayer), “Hail Mary”, and “Glory Be to the Father.” Praying the Rosary is dedicated to one of four sets of "Mysteries" said in sequence each day. The Mysteries consist of the Joyful Mysteries; the Sorrowful Mysteries; the Glorious Mysteries, and the Luminous Mysteries. Each set of Mysteries has within it five different themes to be meditated upon while saying each decade of Hail Marys. I know it sounds complicated, but it's not. I always know which day of the week corresponds with each Mystery, and the order of themes within each Mystery.

While I don't think it's my place to tell people what to believe in or how to worship, I know that personally I am very happy attending Catholic Mass every week (and I try to attend daily Mass as often as possible). I couldn't imagine a day without praying or reading from the Bible.