The first issue of the new Monitor Magazine includes a question/answer feature called “In Their Own Words” in which faithful from throughout the Diocese were asked to respond to the question “What role has prayer played in your life?” Here are additional responses that are being included on TrentonMonitor.com from Father Peter James Alindogan, pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish, West Long Branch, and diocesan director of missions, and Father Jack Bogacz, parochial vicar of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Moorestown, and spiritual moderator of the diocesan St. Vincent de Paul Society.

I find solace and comfort in the recitation of the Rosary. My love for the Rosary began when I remember fidgeting impatiently as a child in church while waiting for my Mom to finish her prayers after Sunday Mass. I did not realize quite then that that was how I started my calling as a priest. The Hail Mary’s from my Mom translated to the Hail Mary’s in my ministry.

As a priest, I have the obligation and the vow to pray the Liturgy of the Hours daily. But, the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the highest form of prayer, has been my bread and butter (read also: wine) for close to three decades now. Praying the words of our Lord and those found in the Holy Book, and feeling, experiencing, believing the presence of Jesus in his Body and Blood makes my life in prayer truly extraordinary.

Father Peter James R. Alindogan

"I see prayer as my conversation with God, the God in Whom I trust to hear my pleas and my thanks and my supplications and my praise and my asking for his mercy and forgiveness. I know that God hears me and always answers me even though it may not be what I expect. I must trust that his answers come in his time and as what I need and when I need it most!

Prayer is powerful and should be passionate from our heart for God listens, hears and responds for we are to knock on the door of God's heart to be opened so that when we seek we will find in him what we need and when we ask, God will provide to help us through the ups and downs of life. I pray daily through the Breviary (Liturgy of the Hours), the Mass (Liturgy of the Eucharist) and through my daily conversations with the Lord just as the Apostles might have spoken with him. And they too were the ones who asked Jesus to teach them how to pray and he then gave them (and us) the Lord's Prayer which is important to pray daily in order to be reminded of how much God really loves us.

Prayer gives us hope and enlivens our faith and helps us to love God and those for whom we pray. Jesus often went out into the desert or up on the mountaintop to pray to the father and make certain that he was still fulfilling God's plan for the mission of redemption through Jesus on the Cross. And Jesus prayed in community with his disciples. So we can now understand its importance in connecting us with God and keeping our relationship with him strong!" 

Father Jack Bogacz