When praying, is it better to pray to God or Jesus?

One way to your question is “yes.” Yes, it is better to pray to God the Father and yes, it is better to pray to Jesus. In fact, it is impossible to do one without the other. Because of Jesus’ complete identification with God the Father – especially developed in the gospel of John – we know that the Father and the Son are one. Together the Father, Son and Spirit invite us into their loving communion; through prayer, we respond to that invitation. The actual words you use to address God in your personal prayer have more to do with style than with substance. Your heart may lead you to language such as “God” or “Father” in a given moment and to words such as “Teacher” or “Savior” in another. But at its root, when we address the divine, all of these words are approximations, our attempts to name the Holy One who surpasses all our images and words. Use any of these words, or use no words at all – the important thing is to pray.

Neela Kale is a writer and catechetical minister based in the Archdiocese of Portland. She served with the Incarnate Word Missionaries in Mexico and earned a Master of Divinity at the Jesuit School of Theology. Some of her best theological reflection happens on two wheels as she rides her bike around the hills of western Oregon.