Two Kinds of Catholic Prayer
If you have spent time on this site, you may have noticed that some prayers feel familiar — they echo language you have heard at Mass or in devotional books — while others feel more personal and contemporary in their phrasing. This page explains the difference and why both kinds of prayer have a legitimate place in Catholic spiritual life.
Traditional Catholic Prayers
Traditional Catholic prayers are those that have been passed down through the life of the Church — in some cases for centuries or millennia. They include:
- Liturgical prayers: The prayers of the Mass, the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours), and the sacramental rites — these are the official prayers of the Church, approved and promulgated by Church authority.
- Approved devotional prayers: Prayers formally approved or encouraged by the Church, including the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the Angelus, the Memorare, the Miraculous Medal prayer, and litanies to the saints.
- Patristic and hagiographic prayers: Prayers written by saints and Church Fathers that have become embedded in Catholic spirituality — such as the prayers of St. Francis, St. Thomas Aquinas's prayer before study, St. Ignatius's Suscipe, and St. Teresa of Ávila's Let Nothing Disturb You (Nada Te Turbe).
- Scriptural prayers: The Psalms and the canticles of Scripture, which have been at the heart of Catholic prayer since the earliest Church.
These prayers carry the weight of communal use and theological vetting. Many have been prayed by millions of people across hundreds of years. Their power comes partly from this shared heritage — when you pray the Rosary, you are joining a river of prayer that has flowed through history.
Original Devotional Prayers
The prayers written on this site — including the prayers on individual life-issue pages and the prayer library — are original devotional prayers: compositions written specifically to address particular situations and seasons of life. They are not official Church prayers. They have not been submitted to or approved by ecclesiastical authority.
What they are:
- Written in the spirit and language of Catholic tradition
- Grounded in Scripture, the teachings of the saints, and the doctrines of the Church
- Intended as a starting point for personal prayer — not a liturgical formula
- Honest in tone, addressing real human situations without pretending away difficulty
What they are not:
- Officially promulgated by the Catholic Church
- Infallible or doctrinally authoritative
- Equivalent to formally approved devotional prayers
The Catholic tradition has always made room for original prayer composition. The Psalms themselves are original compositions. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote his own prayers. The great saints wrote prayers tailored to their vocations, struggles, and experiences. Private devotional prayer — prayer composed for personal use, not liturgical use — is a completely normal part of Catholic spiritual life.
Which Kind Should I Use?
Both, ideally — and for different purposes.
Use traditional Catholic prayers when:
- You want to join the stream of communal Catholic prayer and its centuries of accumulated grace
- You are praying liturgically (at Mass, the Divine Office, in Adoration)
- You want the structure and stability of a form that has been vetted and widely used
- A specific traditional prayer (the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the Memorare) speaks directly to your situation
Use original devotional prayers when:
- You need language for a very specific situation that traditional prayers don't quite reach
- You are in acute distress and need something direct and immediate
- You are new or returning to prayer and need accessible entry points
- The original prayer genuinely reflects your interior situation
The distinction matters, but it should not be a source of anxiety. God hears all honest prayer — both the ancient forms and the spontaneous cry. The test of a prayer is not its pedigree but its honesty and its orientation toward God.
The Psalms as the Model
The Psalms are perhaps the best argument that original, honest, personal prayer is fully Catholic. The Psalms are not liturgical formulas first — they are personal cries, complaints, celebrations, and pleas that were gathered, recognized as inspired, and incorporated into the life of worship. They demonstrate that authentic prayer begins in the particularity of real human experience.
Every time a new prayer is written that honestly addresses real suffering from within Catholic tradition, it participates (humbly and imperfectly) in that same basic act.
Sources and Standards on This Site
The original prayers on this site are written to:
- Be theologically consistent with Catholic teaching (Scripture, Catechism, Tradition)
- Address specific human situations with honesty and pastoral care
- Not overclaim — they do not promise healing, outcomes, or specific answered petitions
- Remain clearly devotional in character — personal, not liturgical
Where prayers draw on traditional formulas, sources are noted. Where they are original compositions, they are labeled as such — either explicitly or by their context on the site.
Related Guides
- How We Use Scripture, Saints, and the Catechism — our source and citation standards
- Editorial Policy — full standards for content on this site
- How to Pray the Rosary — a traditional Catholic prayer guide
- Divine Mercy Chaplet Guide — another traditional approved devotion
- How Catholics Pray When They Have No Words — when all forms of prayer are difficult