"On Prayer" by Monica Pugh

by Monica Pugh | January 14, 2025

On Prayer with Monica Pugh

Prayer has been a battle for me my entire life. What is prayer? How do I pray? Why pray? These are questions I have had and also hear from other people. Have you wondered if you are praying enough or fallen into bed exhausted and never given a thought about praying? Even our ordained and religious might answer yes to that question at times.

Prayer is the voice of the Church. We are the Church. We raise our voices to God on our own and together in worship to give thanks and praise, pray for others, petition for our wants and needs, and ask forgiveness. We pray to God because he is our creator and we believe he is the source of truth. We humbly talk to him about all our deepest thoughts and desires through prayer.

All of that is wonderful knowledge. But prayer is more than knowledge. Prayer is about the attitude of our hearts and being open to receive God’s will for our lives. Prayer is communion with God to grow in holiness and deeply desire God’s will. Prayer is conversion of our hearts. Then why do we need to pray if God knows everything about us?

Growing up as an Evangelical Protestant, I was taught to simply talk to God. But my words were few and I most often prayed, “Help me, Lord.” I selfishly asked to receive what I wanted. Please take away my sufferings and sufferings for those I love. In Thessalonians we read we are to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances. Suffering is something no one wants to experience. I needed to learn to pray for God’s will in my life and seek communion with him in order to accept all circumstances including suffering. We pray to be in communion with God so we can know his deep and abiding love for us.

God answered my deepest prayer to know him by leading me to the Catholic faith in 2009. My prayers began to change. I prayed the written prayers and lovingly recited the mealtime and faithfully departed prayers which were the only two I knew by heart. While studying the catechism during deacon formation with my husband, my eyes welled with tears as I read in section 2725, prayer is a battle. The battle is within us and against anything that turns us away from God. My heart began to understand Jesus praying for God’s will at Gethsemane and Mary’s prayer of God’s will being done to her. One of our diocesan priests, Father Dan Kirby, prays at every Mass, “We ask you what we think we need, give us what you know we need.” I see God always gives me what he knows I need. Prayer is me loving God.

In this year of Jubilee with our diocesan focus on prayer, I will be exploring these questions as I present more about prayer and different types of prayer. The hope is to help us all deepen our love for our faith and learn to rest in our Heavenly Father’s arms as we pray.

Monica Pugh

Monica is a wife and mom who, with her husband, Deacon Eric Pugh, raised five sons in Winterset and now has 12 grandchildren. She’s currently working on becoming a spiritual director and serves as the director of faith formation at St. John the Apostle Parish in Norwalk.