Prayer: What is it?

We will finish our treatment of the spiritual life with a short series on prayer and we'll begin by definining prayer.  Prayer is a living, personal action of communion and love with God (see CCC 2558).  It is an intimate encounter of love.  If one can imagine what would occur in a relationship of intimacy in our human relationships without deep, intimate conversations with our loved one, we can see why a deep life of prayer is necessary for holiness.  If the spiritual life is about working on deepening our relationship of love and intimacy with Jesus Christ, an intense prayer life cannot be dispensed with.  One can rightly say that the intensity of one’s prayer life is a direct reflection of the depth of one’s spiritual life.  There are five types of prayer, all of which are necessary for a deep life of prayer.