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If two people want to maintain a close relationship, they usually have to wrestle with at least three communication tensions:
1) How often are they together versus spending time apart?
2) Should they share every thought and feeling versus selective self-disclosure?
3) How much predictability versus variety is needed?
In maintaining our relationship with God, the first two tensions are rather self-explanatory. 1) We should always strive to stay connected with God since this is time that is graced versus being apart from God which is sin. 2) Trying to keep secrets from God would be a delusion since God is all-knowing.
However, Tension 3 touches directly on our prayer life. Prayer is our ordinary channel of communication with God. From God's point of view, our prayer only needs to be genuine. Humans, however, can benefit if prayer is a blend of both predictability and variety.
Examples of predictability in prayer are liturgical practices like the prayers we say together at Mass, the Rosary, the Liturgy of the Hours, and all of the rote prayers we know by heart.
So what about bringing variety to our prayer life? If variety is the spice of life, isn't it logical that the more varied our prayers are the more vibrant our relationship with God will be? Not necessarily.
While it is true that we humans crave some variety in our lives, there is such a thing as having too many options to choose from. Have you ever gone to a restaurant that had a menu with too many selections on it? Science has shown that too many alternatives can actually bog down the decision-making process and, in some cases, paralyze us into not choosing at all.
Fortunately, when it comes to prayer, we do have some variety to choose from but not an overwhelming number. There are really only four general categories of prayer available to us. These four basic types of prayer are most easily remembered by the acronym ACTS which stands for adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication.
Adoration: We adore God every time we sing songs of praise about the wonderful creation he has provided for us.
Contrition: We tell God we're sorry whenever we confess our wrongdoings and promise to try to do better in the future. We offer prayers of contrition at the beginning of every Mass and when we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Thanksgiving: There are countless numbers of ways to express our thankfulness to God for all the gifts he has given to us, like loved ones, health, education, talents, etc., particularly when we promise to use these gifts for the benefit of others.
Supplication: These are the petitions we offer for our own needs and for the needs of others. The saints tell us that we should be happy if this fourth category consumes the majority of our prayer life because it reflects our dependency on God's providence, our confidence that he will take care of us, and our awareness that other people need our prayers too.
For Holy Homework: Create a prayer from your heart that contains all four ACTS. Alleluia, God, we adore you and praise your name. We thank you for giving us life. Forgive us for any sins we have committed. Fill us, and all of our neighbors on this earth, with your gifts of peace, understanding, and love. Amen.
