In last week’s column, we talked about what the point of prayer was and why we pray. This week, I wanted to start looking at the 5 basic “forms” of prayer in the Catholic Tradition: praise, adoration, thanksgiving, intercession, and petition. Rather than looking at all of them at one time in one column, we will look at them one at a time over the next 5 columns.

This week I wanted to start with adoration, simply because it comes first in alphabetical order. In prayers of adoration, we adore the greatness of God and our dependence upon Him for everything. Prayers of adoration also remind us of our own humility. When we take time to focus on how great our God is and all that He is and all that He’s done for us we come to realize just how great our need for God is..

There certainly are many examples of prayers of adoration that we are familiar with. One that we hear and pray often within the Mass itself is the Gloria as we echo the hymn of the angels, adoring God’s greatness and glory. Another very familiar example of a prayer of adoration is Eucharistic Adoration. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is a practice of our faith that is centuries old. How did this great form of prayer arise?
In the early years of Christianity, the consecrated bread would be brought home consumed throughout the week by the faithful. In the 4th century, monasteries began to reserve the Eucharist and by the 11th century it became a feature in churches, mainly for use for the sick and dying.

In the 11th century a French monk, Berengar of Tours, began teaching that the bread and wine could not possibly become the Body and Blood of Jesus, which obviously went and is against the teaching of our faith. Part of the response that arose from this erroneous teaching was that devotion to the Eucharist burst forth throughout Europe as processions, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and other prayers focused on the reserved Sacrament became com- monplace. Around the same time the elevation of the Body and Blood of Jesus were added to the Mass. For some, the moment of seeing the elevated consecrated host began to overshadow the rest of the Mass and eventually a blessing with the exposed Eucharist, what we know as benediction, developed.

Next week, we’ll look at prayers of intercession.