JESUS YOUTH | KAIROS GLOBAL | OCTOBER 2026

Author: Dr Edward Edezhath

Beauty in prayer at the heart of Jesus Youth

‘Please stop!’ Father said this gently yet firmly, and the noisy babble abruptly stopped. All were singing aloud in tongues, but it was not very pleasant to hear. Fr. Gino pointed out from Psalms, singing in the Spirit is making a joyful noise to the Lord; it should be beautiful, not some irritating babble. He also quoted 1Corinthians 14:32&33 – And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not a God of disorder but of peace. With a little care, a group can pray and sing in a pleasing way, but if not, it just becomes irritating and loud noise.

This was in 1982, in a training for nearly a hundred youth from all over the state. All had their personal initiation into the Renewal under different preachers and had different styles of spirituality. But on the first day of the training itself, Father made clear that a certain order and beauty, especially in prayer styles, was expected. It had its effect. Everyone learned to pray and sing in the Spirit in a beautiful way. 

Opting for order and beauty

A conscious decision for order and beauty is important for healthy community prayer. In Jesus Youth, praying together is important, but how to do so is also significant. ‘Note the way in which a group prays – that speaks a lot about their spirituality.’ Some of us were lucky to have animators who guided us well on fellowship prayer, as St. Paul instructed his groups on praying together and using gifts.

 ‘You have two ears to use when you sing and pray in the Spirit,’ Fr. Marcelino would say. ‘Use one ear to listen to the Spirit inside you, giving joyful melodies to sing. Use the other ear for the Body of Christ, the people around. Sing along in joyful harmony with them.’ There were effective practice sessions to gently listen to the music in your heart and sing out. Also, we were trained to pray in love, in harmony with all those singing around us. All that worked well, often resulting in people learning to pray together gracefully. 

What kills beauty in prayer!

Going into a parish church one day, I was somewhat surprised and shocked to hear wailing and shouting from inside. Half a dozen youth were in a session of praise and worship. Poor boys, some preacher had convinced them that they should praise God with “all their might”! The parish priest was someone I knew. He found all that quite “amusing” but was tolerant because those were boys who never came to church before but were now coming to pray. But privately he asked me, ‘How long will these youth continue such a “funny” kind of prayer? Won’t such a prayer style make fools of themselves among their friends?’ 

I remembered St Paul’s words, they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. Their styles remained at the level of mere imitation and did not go beyond. If only someone guided them into something beautiful! I later learned that after a few months, they all discontinued the prayer group.

Joyous presence of God, the life blood of Jesus Youth

“The way of beauty” is so dear to Pope Benedict XVI. God speaks to us through beauty; and the best path to grow closer to God and evangelise others is also through beauty. Beauty and joy should stand out in all that we do. With some care we can escape the mundane and make prayer beautiful. 

What are some of the practical approaches to beauty in prayer?

Be attentive to the Holy Spirit: When prayer is a one-way traffic it becomes tedious. In a group if there are many who are alive in the Spirit and the group as a whole is focused on His guidance, prayer becomes quite enriching.  St Paul instructs, when you come together each one has something to contribute and that must be done for mutual building up (1Cor.14:26). 

Love-sharing-participation: Experiencing God’s love and warmth mutually is at the heart of prayer. The leader should not talk much, but encourage others to talk and take steps, thus everyone comes alive in love and joy. 

Informal: The beauty of traditional liturgical prayer is its solemnity and detachment; but informal community prayer should be as informal as daily speech. One reason why long and loud artificial prayer becomes so out of place, is that they are far removed from this friendly informality. 

Spontaneous: Each prayer session is something entirely beautiful and new. As the Lord tells Nicodemus, there is an element of creative surprise in the work of the Spirit. But the Spirit can lead in unexpected ways only when there is freedom and mutual understanding in the group, which results in the spontaneous use of charisms and gifts by each person.

Finally,

David puts his heart’s yearning for prayer so nicely, he wanted so much to dwell in the house of the Lord … to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple (Ps.27:4). According to Plato, beauty gives us a “healthy shock", drawing us out of ourselves and the dullness of daily routine. In our prayer group at the end of prayer we say, ‘Go around and express your joy and love to everyone.’ And that becomes a big celebration. I think, it should be that way – to share the beauty of love with everyone around from the joyous presence of the Lord.