According to St. Thomas Aquinas, prayer has five qualities that are found in the Lord’s Prayer:  confidence, rectitude, order, devotion, and humility.  These five areas can help us pray better at any time, and the Lord’s Prayer gives us clarity on what these areas look like. 

First, prayer should have confidence.  This is not a neediness or an arrogance in demanding something from God.  Confidence is trusting in the One from whom we are asking.  As St. James says in his letter, “Let him ask in faith nothing wavering” (James 1:6).  Sometimes our prayers are not answered.  The unanswered prayer continues the trust in the Lord.  We have confidence and trust that no matter what we ask in prayer, the Lord will answer in a way aiding us towards salvation.  It takes a lot of trust to pray for something and sometimes the Lord does not respond.  Can we have the same confidence that our God seeks the salvation of all, though we may suffer?  Confidence in prayer trusts in the midst of suffering.  Confident prayer is not about the Lord answering and giving me what I want.  It is about trusting in the one who seeks to save me.  We know that the Our Father brings us to this confidence, because the Lord Himself gave us the prayer and we can trust what He –  the one who first suffered for us – has given.

Second, prayer should have rectitude. Rectitude is the ability to ask for things that are good for us.  This reminds me of when I prayed as a child for my favorite basketball team to win the NBA Finals.  They lost miserably, and I was upset because my prayer was not answered.  The team winning the Finals was a morally neutral request, however my requesting it was a thing of pride.  I wanted it, but it was not something I needed.  Sometimes we pray for things that seemingly are good, but what are our motives and intentions?  Is the prayer for our own gain?  This goes beyond even petitioning God in prayer.  It focuses on seeking the good of prayer.

Third, prayer should have some kind of order.  In the Gospels, Jesus warns us not to babble like the pagans (Matthew 6:7).  This means that he does not want our prayer to be wordy and chaotic.  Prayer can be a conversation or a free reflection, but it should have some kind of order to guide us towards God.  This order should lead us away from earthly things and towards heaven. 

Fourth, we should seek a level of devotion in our prayer.  Have you ever had an experience in prayer that was empty and boring?  I’m not referring to dryness in prayer; that is something else.  Boring prayer is empty of meaning and filled with distractions.  Devotion in prayer is motivated by the love of God and neighbor.  We seek God out of our love for Him.  We desire to be with Him, and our time in prayer is the perfect moment to be with the One which we love.  Devotion in prayer fulfills the commitment to spend time with the One we love.

Finally, we should approach prayer with a level of humility.  As was said before, prayer’s intention is not focused on what we get out of it.  It is not trusting in our own strength but relying on the strength of the Lord.  Humility requires that we take an honest look at ourselves in prayer, ask ourselves how we can improve in who we are in overcoming sin and seeking sanctification, and ultimately realizing God is greater than we are.  Realizing God is greater than any of us is where our prayer is seeking to take us and we cannot do it on our own.  The last line of the Our Father states, “deliver us from evil.”  We need the Lord to overcome evil in our lives and to reach heaven.

These are five qualities of prayer that Aquinas notes in his reflection on the Our Father.  Prayer can come in many shapes and sizes, and we need to realize that there is no one way to pray.  These qualities should only guide us in prayer, and they should aid us in our reflection on the Lord’s Prayer.