Prayers to Learn off by Heart
The Sign of the Cross
This most fundamental prayer is used to begin and end one’s prayers and to ward off the attacks of the devil. It is especially powerful when used with Holy Water. Use your hand to make the shape of the cross from your forehead to your abdomen, and then from your left shoulder to your right shoulder and pray:
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
The Our Father
When Christ was asked by His disciples how to pray, He taught them the Our Father.
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
The Hail Mary (The Angelic Salutation)
The Hail Mary prayer is drawn from two verses in St. Luke’s Gospel. Firstly, the archangel Gabriel’s greeting to our Lady, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.’ (Lk 1:28) and secondly, our Lady’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s words, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!’ (Lk 1:42)
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
The Glory Be
The Glory Be is a short prayer of praise to God expressing belief in the Blessed Trinity. It references Creation in the book of Genesis and the beginning of St. John’s Gospel, and also expresses God’s eternity.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.