What You Don’t Know About Prayer
Let’s be honest. You probably think you’re doing fine in your prayer life. And perhaps you are. But is your prayer life actually deepening and growing? St. Bernard famously said, “He who does not advance, falls back.” What if there’s more to prayer than what you experience now? God wants all of us to pray like saints. What’s holding you back from reaching the heights of prayer that God is calling you to?
Don’t Just Pray More, Pray Better.
Prayer is essential to our spiritual life, yet it is one of the hardest things for us to do. If you’ve ever tried to maintain a consistent and meaningful prayer life, you know how difficult it can be.
In order to pray well as faithful Catholics, we must draw from how the Holy Spirit has taught the Church to pray over the centuries.
School of Prayer is a 30-day devotional series to help you advance your prayer life farther than you ever realized you could. In this series you will study prayer in the universal Catholic Church as taught by scripture, papal encyclicals, catechisms, the saints and spiritual masters from the East and West, and more.
This includes:
- The two things necessary for true prayer
- The four different kinds of prayer
- The three levels of prayer
- How to identify and overcome the common obstacles to prayer growth
- Practical tips for developing better habits of prayer
- How to pray as a family
- …and much more!
Get practical instruction that will help you pray better—now and for the rest of your life.
How Does It Work?
For each of the 30 days of this series you will receive an email linking you to new daily content posted right here at GoodCatholic.com. You’ll also have access to all 30 sessions immediately, if you’d like to go at your own pace. You can repeat the series as often as you wish for one full year.
Don’t wait! Subscribe today.
Series Contributors
Father Joseph Matlak
Fr. Joseph Matlak serves as Administrator of St. Basil the Great Eastern Catholic Parish in Charlotte, North Carolina, and as Chaplain of Holy Trinity Catholic Middle School of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte. He was born in Dunstable, England. His undergraduate studies in Ancient History at King’s College London led him to focus on the history and theology of Byzantium. He completed priestly formation for the Eparchy of St. Josaphat at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., and was ordained to the Holy Priesthood in 2015 at St. Josaphat Cathedral in Parma, Ohio. Fr. Matlak has a unique priesthood in that he has faculties to celebrate Holy Mass according to the Roman Rite, as well as the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite. This has imbued him with a deep appreciation for the catholicity of the Church. Among other things, he enjoys traveling, film, theater, music, and history.
Gretchen Filz, O.P.
Gretchen Filz, O.P., is a Catholic content writer with an M.A. in Christian Apologetics. As a result of her studies in theology and philosophy at an Evangelical seminary, she discovered the truth of Catholicism and entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in 2011. A passionate convert and Lay Dominican, Gretchen lives out her vocation through prayer, study, teaching, writing, and engaging in a variety of apostolates. Her articles have provided catechesis and inspiration for Catholics around the world. She currently works in the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Whitney Hetzel
Whitney Hetzel and her husband, James, have been married for thirty-three years. They have nine children ranging in age from twelve to thirty-two. Whitney, who has been homeschooling for twenty-seven years, is an exercise enthusiast who enjoys blogging about health and fitness over at 9 Kid Fitness. But her real passion is discussing faith, family, and the challenges of putting one foot in front of the other on a daily basis, all of which she writes about at Catholic Company Magazine and the Good Catholic blog. Whitney has a B.A. in English and Journalism from Indiana University and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Saint Louis University.
51 Reviews
Very Disappointing - Dry and Dull
I love a lot of the Good Catholic classes and was looking forward to this one. It’s like watching paint dry. The text for the lesson looks like someone just cut and pasted long passages from the Catechism or various writings of scholars or saints. They’ve just added some commentary that sounds like it’s straight out of a textbook. Thank goodness for Heather’s comments at the end. She really ties it all up and makes it understandable. Fr. Matlak tries, but he’s way too stiff. Get him some media training. He stays in the same position and barely changes his expression. He looks too terrified to go off script (I’m assuming he has a teleprompter he’s working from). Loosen him up a bit. So, because of all of this, I had to read the text and watch the videos more than once just to get past the dullness. Very little of it stayed with me unless I did this. This COULD be a good program, but it needs revamping.
School of prayer
This is good stuff, I recommend it
Loved it
Hello! I just finished reading day 5 of school of prayer! I really loved this! I learned so much! I have had people from other religions ask me why we have statues, pictures, images in our homes and in our churches. They have asked me that by having these in my homes, aren’t I committing idolatry? I never
knew quite what to say. Now, I do! Thank you Good Catholic for this series. I’m learning so much!