Prayer Quotes from Saints: How to Pray

How Famous Saints Describe Spiritual Growth Importance of Praying

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Learning how to pray well is important for your spiritual journey. Digital Vision/Getty Images

Prayer is an important of your spiritual journey. Praying well leads you closer to God and his messengers (the angels) in wonderful relationships of faith. That opens doors for miracles to happen in your life. These prayer quotes from saints describe how to pray:

"Perfect prayer is that wherein he who prays is not conscious that he is praying." - St. John Cassian

"It seems to me that we do not pay enough attention to prayer, for unless it arises from the hart which ought to be its center, it is no more than a fruitless dream. Prayer out to carry over into our words, our thoughts and our actions. We must strive as much as we can to reflect on what we ask or promise. We do not do this if we do not pay attention to our prayers." - St. Marguerite Bourgeoys

"If you pray with your lips but your mind wanders, how do you benefit?" - St. Gregory of Sinai

"Prayer is turning the mind and thoughts toward God. To pray means to stand before God with the mind, mentally to gaze constantly at him, and to converse with him in reverent fear and hope." - St. Dimitri of Rostov

"We must pray without ceasing, in every occurrence and employment of our lives -- that prayer which is rather a habit of lifting up the heart to God as in a constant communication with him." - St. Elizabeth Seton

"Pray about everything to the Lord, to our most pure Lady, and to your guardian angel. They will teach you everything, either directly or through others." - St. Theophan the Recluse

"The best form of prayer is one that implants the clearest idea of God in the soul and thus makes space for the presence of God within us." - St. Basil the Great

"We don't pray in order to change God's arrangements, but in order to obtain effects that God has arranged will be achieved through the prayers of his chosen people. God arranges to give us certain things in answer to requests to that we may confidently have recourse to him, and acknowledge him as the source of all our blessings, and this is all for our good." - St. Thomas Aquinas

"When you pray to God in psalms and hymns, meditate in your heart on that which you utter with your lips." - St. Augustine

"God says: Pray wholeheartedly, through it seems to you that this has no savor for you; still it is not profitable enough, though you may not feel that. Pray wholeheartedly, though you may feel nothing, though you may see nothing, yes, though you think that you could not, for in dryness and in barrenness, in sickness and in weakness, then is your prayer most pleasing to me, though you think it almost tasteless to you. And so is all your living prayer in my sight." St. Julian of Norwich

"We always have need of God. Therefore, we must always pray. The more we pray, the more we please him and the more we obtain." - St. Claude de la Colombiere

"It is however to be noted that four things are required if a person is to obtain what he requests through the power of the holy name. First that he ask for himself; second, that whatever he asks be necessary for salvation; third, that he asks in a pious manner; and fourth, that he ask with perseverance -- and all these things concurrently. If he asks in this manner, he will always be granted his request." - St. Bernadine of Siena

"Devote one hour daily to mental prayer. If you can, let it be early in the morning, because then your mind is less encumbered and more vigorous after the night's rest." - St. Francis de Sales

"Unceasing prayer means to have the mind always turned to God with great love, holding alive our hope in him, having confidence in him whatever we're doing and whatever happens to us." - St. Maximus the Confessor

"I would advise those who practice prayer, especially at first, to cultivate the friendship and company of others who are working in the same way. This is a most important things, because we can help one another by our prayers, and all the more so because it may bring us even greater benefits." - St. Teresa of Avila

"Let prayer arm us when we leave our homes. When we return from the streets let us pray before we sit down, nor give our miserable body rest until our soul is fed." - St. Jerome

"Let us beg pardon for all our sins and contrition against them, and especially let us ask for help against all those passions and vices toward which we incline the most and are most tempted, showing all our wounds to the heavenly physician, that he may heal and cure them with the unction of his grace." - St. Peter or Alcantara

"Frequent prayer commends us to God." - St. Ambrose

"Some people pray with their bodies only, saying the words with their mouths, while their minds are far away: in the kitchen, in the marketplace, on their travels. We pray in the spirit when the mind reflects on the words that the mouth utters. ... To this end, the hands should be joined, to signify the union of heart and lips. That is the prayer of the spirit." - St. Vincent Ferrer

"Why must we give ourselves fully to God? Because God has given himself to us." - St. Mother Teresa

"To vocal prayer we must add mental prayer, which enlightens the mind, inflames the heart and disposes the soul to listen to the voice of wisdom, to savor his delights and possess his treasures. For myself, I know of no better way of establishing the kingdom of God, eternal wisdom, than to united vocal and mental prayer by saying the holy Rosary and meditating on its 15 mysteries." - St. Louis de Monfort

"Your prayer cannot stop at mere words. It has to lead to deeds and practical consequences." - St. Josemaria Escriva

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Hopler, Whitney. "Prayer Quotes from Saints: How to Pray." Learn Religions, Feb. 8, 2021, learnreligions.com/prayer-quotes-from-saints-4020542. Hopler, Whitney. (2021, February 8). Prayer Quotes from Saints: How to Pray. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/prayer-quotes-from-saints-4020542 Hopler, Whitney. "Prayer Quotes from Saints: How to Pray." Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/prayer-quotes-from-saints-4020542 (accessed March 29, 2024).