As Christians, we believe that prayer is the most intimate expression of our relationship with God. It is as important as air is to our lungs. Prayer sustains the divine life within us. But sometimes we feel inadequate in prayer, or, as even St Paul writes, “We do not know how to pray as we ought”. The disciples themselves asked Jesus, “Teach us to pray.” This, says Father Larry Kaufmann, is something that we need to take seriously in our own quest to be people of prayer. Prayer requires continual learning.
Fr. Larry Kaufmann is a Redemptorist priest and missionary from South Africa. With educational degrees in both dogmatic and moral theology, Father has lectured in the seminary and at universities. He has also served as Provincial Superior, and successfully conducted many missions and retreats.
“In my ministry, I am constantly being asked to help people to pray,” he says. “I discovered that most people are stuck using only one method of prayer. They need to be exposed to a variety of methods,” he adds.
Fr. Larry’s inspiration also comes from great pioneers in prayer such as St. Alphonsus (the ‘Doctor of Prayer’), St. Augustine, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Charles de Foucauld. With each known for its varied approach to prayer, Fr. Larry amalgamates and designs unique, simple, and effective methods to help us understand, articulate, and indulge in a meaningful relationship with God—through prayer.
As a Redemptorist missioner traveling around his country, Fr. Larry established as part of the mission program a “school of prayer”. Each day after the morning mass he would invite people to remain behind for 15 to 20 minutes to learn a new form of praying. RMC is delighted to continue this as an online ministry. The first episode of ‘Teach us to pray’ premiered at 7:30 PM IST on September 5, 2022, after the Daily Rosary with the Redemptorists. Stay tuned on our social media space for more updates!
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