• Prayer is an important part of Christianity.
• Prayer is one of the three pillars of Lent.
• Prayer is a way of communicating with God and growing in a relationship with him.
• Many different ways of praying exist.

Prayer is essential to the everyday spiritual life of a Christian. But during Lent, when Christians are supposed to focus more on God, it becomes even more important to them.

Prayer is one of the three pillars of Lent, but it is a common practice throughout the Church year. Prayer is a conversation with God, said Susan Mountin, director of the Manressa Project.

Gina Galassi, sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said to pray is to grow deeper in a relationship with God.

Commonly when people pray, they ask God for something, said theology professor Mark Johnson. Asking for help is a healthy way of acknowledging our dependence on God, he said.

"We really do depend on God, in some ways for everything," said Johnson.

Many times throughout the Gospel, Jesus deliberately took time to go off and pray to God.

"That's what Jesus did in his experiences leading up to the Passion," said Mountin.

When he desired to speak to God, Jesus often prayed alone.

"It's almost as if he needs that prayer as a way of nurturing himself spiritually," said Mountin.

When Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray just before his arrest, he asked his disciples to pray as well. The Disciples fell asleep instead of praying.

Too often, Christians do that instead of focusing on God, Mountin said. Lent is a time to try to pay more attention to prayer, she said. She said we need to wake up.

Mountin said when it comes to prayer, sometimes we do the talking, and sometimes we do the listening.

Very often, it's the silence that gets you to think more about what you're asking God for, and you begin to think about it in different ways, Johnson said.

Even if he seems silent, God does answer prayer, said Galassi. You may not get the answer you wanted, but that's OK because God just answered it in a better way, she said.

"You need to be open to God's answer, not just your answer," said Mountin.

As believers have tried to hear God better while praying, many different methods of prayer have developed. All the different methods get to the same place, Mountin said.

Five different kinds of prayer are identified in "The Little Black Book" distributed by Campus Ministry: vocal prayer, scriptural prayer, meditation, contemplation and liturgical prayer.

The Lenten devotional book says vocal prayer involves using a set prayer, such as the Our Father, while scriptural prayer refers to slowly reading a passage of Scripture and opening oneself to God's words.

Meditation is described in "The Little Black Book" as someone thinking about the different aspects of faith with God and contemplation involves eliminating outside thoughts and simply being in the presence of God.

Participating with other believers in the rituals of the Church is liturgical prayer, according to the book.

Other forms of prayer also exist.

St. Ignatius believed that being in a place where prayer comes easily can be best, said Mountin.

Galassi said sometimes the best place for her to pray is outside of Joan of Arc on a nice day, surrounded by the flowers. She said she is able to see God in those that pass by and feel him in the wind.

As a college student, Galassi admits that finding time to pray can be difficult. Scheduling time for prayer works best for her, she said.

Even when you are busy, Galassi said, you can still talk to God by making your life a prayer.

"Even if it's five seconds, Jesus heard it anyways."