No matter what your faith is, it’s always good to make a little time for prayer. Even you’re a fire-breathing atheist, take some time to just wonder at the universe, rather than always thinking of this world. All ancient cultures use prayer, and when John Robbins journeyed to the four longest-lived cultures on earth (communities in Chile, Japan, Russia and Pakistan), he was surprised to find none of them even knew what an atheist was, even though they were fairly remote from established religious churches.
It’s interesting that in these stressful times, although we have moved away from the ‘fake New Age gurus’ who try to sell us ‘faith and happiness’, increasingly we are also moving away from ‘hell and fire’ churches, and yet returning to the real faith of prayer. Irish nun Sr Briege McKenna was once asked how to pray. She said it’s a bit like sunbathing. You simply go somewhere you feel at peace with God, and kind of do the same – just sit and be, and absorb your faith and that’s prayer, rather than parroting off prayers you learned in childhood.
Where to Find Prayers to Pray
Blair Piras is an American Catholic artist, who offers lovely images of Jesus and favourite saints, with prayer cards on the back. These are nice to carry on your person (especially when travelling) or just to keep by your beside.
Pray As You Go is a gentle Catholic site where you can pray along each morning. However, the site also has some lovely music you can listen to, which you’ll likely enjoy, whatever your faith or belief. Just find the songs you like and click through to listen online.
Poor Clares (Ireland) is a closed order of Catholic nuns, who wrote a very popular book Calm the Soul, based on their popular music. They have nice prayers on site, by nuns who between them have very interesting histories. From former campaigners to accountants, you can read their biographies on-site from how they ended up here, after quite a few heavy partying days!
Hallow is the world’s most popular Catholic meditation app, created by a former atheist. Choose your guide, length and personal prayer plan, and even choose background music (like Gregorian chant). Includes a 30-day free trial, to see if it works for you.
The Prayer of Unwanting is about saying the Lord’s Prayer to get over ourselves, rather than a magical way to ask for stuff. The purpose of prayer is simply to change the heart of our wanting. In this book, a pastor leads us into a prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, and how.
