What places are conducive for prayer?

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The most appropriate places for prayer are personal or family oratories, monasteries, places of pilgrimage, and above all the church, which is the proper place for liturgical prayer for the parish community and the privileged place for Eucharistic adoration. [ See CCC 2696 ]

What times are more suitable for prayer?

Anytime is suitable for prayer but the Church proposes to the faithful "special times" for praying which are intended to nourish continual prayer. They are morning and evening prayer, prayer before and after meals. The Divine Office,Sundays centered on the Eucharist, and feast of the Liturgical year.[See CCC 2698]

What are the Major Expressions of Prayer?

The Christian tradition comprises three major expressions of the life of prayer, vocal prayer, meditation, and contemplative prayer. What they have in common is the recollection of the heart.

Vocal Prayer corresponds to a requirement of our human nature. It is associates the external with the interior prayer of the heart, following Christ's example of praying to his Father and teaching the Our Father to his disciples. We must pray with our whole being to give all power possible to our supplication, Even interior prayer, however, cannot neglect vocal prayer, Prayer is internalized to the extent that we become aware that it is God to whom we are speaking. Thus vocal prayer becomes an initial form of contemplative prayer.Whether or not our prayer is heard depends not on the number of words, but in the fervor of our souls.

VOCAL PRAYER

Vocal prayer corresponds to a requirement of our human nature. It associates the external with the interior prayer of the heart, following Christ's example of praying to his Father and teaching the Our Father to his disciples. We must pray with our whole being to give all power possible  to our supplication. Even interior prayer, however, cannot neglect vocal prayer. Prayer is internalized to the extent that we become aware that it is God to whom we are speaking. Thus vocal prayer becomes an initial form of contemplative prayer. Whether or not prayer is heard depends not on the numbers of words, but on the fervor of our souls.bit.ly/trc05

MEDITATION

Is a prayerful quest engaging thought , imagination, emotion, and desire.Through meditation, the mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: "Lord, what do you want me to do?" If is a time to let God speak to us! We are helped in our meditation by books, the Sacred Scriptures, holy icons, liturgical texts, writings of the spiritual fathers and other works of spirituality. The Rosary as a form of prayerful reflection is of great value in the knowledge of the Mysteries of our Lord Jesus.

WHAT IS THE CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER?

St. Teresa the great mystic says: "Contemplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who know loves us." Contemplative prayer is the poor and humble surrender to the loving will of the Father in ever deeper union with his beloved Son. In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention  is fixed on the Lord himself. "I look at him and he looks at me": this is what St. John Vianney used to say while praying before the tabernacle. Contemplative prayer is is the pre-eminently intense time of prayer. In it the Father strengthens our inner being with power through his Spirit that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith and we may be rooted in love. In contemplation, the Holy trinity conforms man to his likeness.We come to know God in an ever more living and intimate manner which results in a closer and more fruitful union with him. 

[See CCC 2700-2724 ]

What is better: to pray or to meditate?

To arrive at perfection,says St. Bernard, we must meditate and pray: by meditation we see what we want; by prayer we receive what we want. Some people spend a great deal of time in reading and in meditating, but pay but little attention to prayer. there is no doubt that spiritual reading and meditation on the eternal truths, are very useful things, "but," says  St Augustine, "it is of much more use to pray." By reading and meditating we learn our duty; but by prayer we obtain the grace to do it."It is better to pray than to read: by reading we know what we ought to do; by prayer we receive what we ask." What is the use of knowing our duty, and then not doing it, but to make sure us more guilty in God's sight? We may read and meditate as we like, but we shall never satisfy our obligations, unless we ask of God the grace to fulfill them.