Supplication or Prayer
As a supplication or prayer it implies to call upon God, a god or goddess, a person, etc. When a person calls upon God, a god, or goddess to ask for something (protection, a favour, his/her spiritual presence in a ceremony, etc.) or simply for worship, this can be done in a pre-established form or with the invoker's own words or actions. An example of a pre-established text for an invocation is the Lord's Prayer.
All religions in general use invoking prayers, liturgies, or hymns; see for example the mantras in Hinduism and Buddhism, the Egyptian Coming Out by Day (aka Book of the Dead), the Orphic Hymns and the many texts, still preserved, written in cuneiform characters on clay tablets, addressed to Shamash, Ishtar, and other deities.
Read more about this topic: Invocation
Famous quotes containing the words supplication and/or prayer:
“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
—Bible: New Testament, Philippians 4:6.
“We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)