During my visits with high school and college students, and not infrequently with adult groups, I am often asked a common question: “Can you teach us how to pray?”

I am always gratified by the request, which reflects the Church’s deepest conviction that the Holy Spirit is ever at work in our lives.

Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not know how to pray as we ought” (Rom 8:26) are we really ready to receive freely the gift of prayer.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church confirms the cherished belief that “the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer” (Part 4, Chapter 1, 2567).

In De diversis questionibus, or Eightythree Questions, St. Augustine puts into words a profound belief that it is Christ who seeks us first, placing our thirst for God into our hearts: “Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.”

The Church’s treasury of prayer is rich and varied—meditation, contemplative prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours, the Lectio Divina, various novenas, the rosary, Stations of the Cross, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and, of course, the Eucharist, which is the Church’s most perfect prayer.

When beginners ask for a simple way to pray, I offer a time-tested path: Remember the acronym P.A.C.T.S. Each letter introduces the beginner to a simple, effective formula for prayer that I learned over 30 years ago, and one that I continue to use each day.

P – PETITION

Each week you will encounter people who ask for special prayers. The first letter of our acronym stands for “petition.” Gather all the names and remember the faces of people who have asked for particular prayers. Pray for them by name and by intention, asking God’s abundant blessings upon their lives. Ask Christ to fill their hearts with healing and grace. Entrust each of them to the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, in the words of St. Bernard, assured us that “never was it known that anyone who fled to her protection, implored her help or sought her intercession was left unaided.”

The prayers of petition deepen our spiritual communion with Christ and our prayerful union with others. In short, prayers of petition deepen our trust in the providence of God.

A – ADORATION

Our prayer of adoration helps us to place ourselves in the presence of God as Father and creator of all things, visible and invisible.

Our prayer of adoration helps us place the words of St. Thomas, spoken in Scripture, upon our own lips—“my Lord and my God.” Praise is the form of prayer that recognizes most immediately that God is God and we are beloved and adopted sons and daughters. The catechism states emphatically that “praise embraces the other forms of prayer and carries them toward Him who is its source and goal: the `one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist…’” (I Cor 8:6)

C – CONTRITION

Our prayer of contrition humbly acknowledges our own imperfections and places before God “what we have done and what we have failed to do.” All of us are sinners and all of us are in need of God’s mercy.

The humble sinner understands the need for the healing touch of the Divine Physician and echoes the words of the man in Sacred Scripture who prayed, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Our prayer of contrition opens our heart to God’s mercy and grace, and allows us to seek that firm purpose to amend our lives and to live in ways more consonant with the mind of Christ and the standards of Gospel living.

T – THANKSGIVING

This portion of our prayer formula provides us with the opportunity to thank God each day for so many things and people we take for granted: for the gift of life and health, for the gift of home, family, food, faith, friends, safety, warmth and the endless list of blessings that we share each day. The prayer of thanksgiving also raises that attitude of gratitude that prompts us to share with others “not just from our surplus but from our substance”—sharing with peoples both at home and abroad who are in greater need than ourselves. Our prayer of thanksgiving echoes the words of the Preface that “our prayer of praise adds nothing to your greatness, yet our desire to thank you is itself your gift.” This is a wonderful way to close our day and it beats counting sheep!

S – SILENCE

Prayer is cultivated and produces fruit in a prayerful atmosphere of silence.

Silence helps us to set aside the myriad distractions and preoccupations of the day, and helps God create in us a heart that prays. Silence opens the heart for, in the words of St. Teresa of Jesus, “a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us” (Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. 1, 67).

“Be still and know that I am God.” Silence helps us grasp the magnificent reality that God knows us by name and loves us with an everlasting love.


This simple prayer formula, our pact with Jesus, helps the beginner pray in a way that is practical and approachable. It complements all the other rich forms of prayer available to us, and deepens our communion with Jesus, from whom all good things come.