Are Some Prayers Better Than Others?

Prayer is central to our lives of faith. There are many types of established prayers, such as the Hail Mary and Glory Be. Then there are prayers we make up on the spot when in more casual conversation with God, like this one: Jesus, help me keep my cool with this irritating person.

Some of us pray for a few minutes each day, while others devote hours to it.

This might make you wonder if certain prayers are better — more meritorious — than others. After all, you probably would shy away from claiming that your conversations with God are on the level of, say, St. Teresa of Avila.

Here are some things to keep in mind.

We are all precious to God.
God loves each of us with the self-same act of love. In other words, God is supremely simple. He is not composed of parts, as material beings are. He is identical to His love, and so when He loves us, He gives Himself to us.

He loves us as a Father. As children, we turn to Him with hope, love, and the expectation that He wants to give us good things. Our prayers are precious to Him not because He needs them but because He delights in receiving them.

God gives us different gifts.
We occupy different places in the Body of Christ. God gives some people gifts that make it easier for them to pray for a long time with beautiful words or gestures. That doesn’t necessarily make their prayers better. A simple person who gazes at the host at Mass with true love may be praying more powerfully than someone reciting an elegant poem of praise to God.

Which leads us to our next point.

Some prayers will be more meritorious than others.
God has graced some people with a higher degree of charity, which makes their prayers more meritorious. This is why our Blessed Mother, who has been blessed with the highest degree of charity, is our most powerful intercessor.

Even if we possess a lower degree of charity, our task is to learn to pray from love — our own distinct love. You are not Mary, St. John, or Mother Teresa. You are you. That’s not to say you can’t learn from the masters of prayer, but God wants your prayers to be your own.

You are living a unique, unrepeatable story, and your prayers will reflect that. Stop worrying about others’ prayer lives and focus on praying the best you can, given your inclinations and station in life.