Advice for those rusty about praying

Most of the faithful, hopefully, know the "Our Father" and probably also the "Hail Mary" and the "Glory Be." You've probably also read that many people spend time at prayer, and perhaps wonder "what to pray" if you are just beginning to or seek to enrich your dialogue with God. Some of you buy prayer books, either Catholic or Protestant, for new sources of prayers. That is fine, since most of them are hopefully based on Biblical sources and are theologically sound.

Try to avoid prayer books that have "contemporary language" placed around prayer, where sometimes the authors actually rewrite prayers to be "modern." I've flipped the pages of some of them and find that they can be fronts for slippery and inaccurate dogma.

I have some suggestions for engaging in or restoring a more substantial prayer life with God. The first suggestion is to read part of one of the Psalms in the Bible as a prayer. After all, the 23rd Psalm is the prayer so many know as "The Lord Is My Shepherd (I Shall Not Want)." Those who wrote prayers often took their lines and inspiration directly from these Psalms (which are indeed prayers, ones that were meant to be sung). So if you are saying your nightly prayers, for example, and you want to do more than what many of us do, which is one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be, open the Bible and read part of one of the Psalms as a prayer.

The second suggestion is to read prayers that were written and said by others that have gone before. There is a wealth of Internet sources of original writings, homilies and prayers by saints, holy people, pious laymen and even the earliest Church fathers. For example, you can research a favorite saint and use one of their quotations as a prayer source for you. Better yet, click on a saint that you know nothing about, through a site such as http://www.catholic-forum.com/, and read several of them until you find an inspiring prayer source.

But be careful and read only prayers that are derived from their original sources. I've noticed that whenever certain saints are googled, in addition to reliable Catholic references you are also likely to get a few responses that are "this saint spoke to me on my trip to ...." and those should assuredly be avoided. Find sources for the saint's actual words and read them for prayer ideas, not modern machinations.

For example, here is a wonderful source. This web site has a list of prayers written by Popes.
http://www.catholicdoors.com/prayers/pope.htm

For example this prayer was written by Pope Innocent III.
http://www.catholicdoors.com/prayers/english3/p02553.htm

PRAYER FOR HELP AND MERCY
(By Pope Innocent III.)

Gracious Lord almighty, Jesus Christ,
let Thy sufferings aid us,
and defend us from all pain and grief,
all peril and misery,
all uncleanness of heart,
all sin,
all scandal and infamy,
from evil diseases
Or soul and body,
from sudden and unforeseen death,
and from all persecution of our foes visible and invisible.
For we know that in what day or hour we call to mind Thy Passion,
we shall be safe.
Therefore, relying on Thine infinite tenderness,
we beseech Thee,
O loving Saviour,
by Thy most benignant and sacred sufferings
to protect us with gracious aid,
and in continual tenderness to preserve us from all evil.
Amen.