Dispositions for prayer

BEING the language of the heart and the first and last among the ways for us to get in touch with God, prayer obviously has to be done well.

We have to do everything to make sure our prayer is true prayer, that is, a genuine conversation, or at least, a real contact with our Father God. In fact, we need to pray all the time. We have to learn to convert everything to prayer.

Sad to say, many of us are faking it. We can give an appearance of it, but minus its substance. But, for sure, this anomaly can only go so far. Sooner or later, the truth will come out.

But for all that, there is always hope. Even our tricks and foolishness we play in prayer can later become vivid lessons that teach us the finer requirements of prayer. So, let’s be optimistic always!

Prayer can take many forms—from the vocal to the mental, from the liturgical to the meditative and contemplative. Whatever form we may find ourselves in when we pray, we need to have the proper dispositions. These enable us to begin it, sustain it and end it with fruits to show.

We need to continually work on these dispositions because our human condition does not automatically lead us to pray. In fact, certain factors go against our need to pray.

We have to contend with our human weaknesses, first of all. Then there are those deformities caused by sin, ours and those of others, that we need to identify and cure as best as we could.

The environment can be hostile, or at least deceptive. Our country is still considered very Catholic and pious, and yet there are many aspects in the way we pray, privately and publicly, that cry to be purified and refined.

This is not to mention the powerful spiritual enemies that are ranged against us. For these, we need to learn how to discern spirits, to distinguish the good and the evil ones. And in this field, the tricks and deceptions are far worse.

Working on our dispositions can be an absorbing business, but all worth it. Once we develop the skill of praying, and even the spirit of it precisely because of our stable proper dispositions, then we will see that our prayer can go far and wide. It can give us a sensation of flight and penetration into the mysteries of our faith.

First would be the conviction that to succeed in prayer, we need to exert effort. Prayer without struggle, without discipline, simply does not take off. It remains grounded on the sensible and temporal, and cannot enter the spiritual and supernatural. We should not be sparing in this effort.

Then we need to be recollected, to gather our senses so that they get focused and attuned to the things of God and those of our soul. Some exercises may be needed for this.

But more than this, we have to prime ourselves to develop a certain devotion. Devotion is marked by a joy and quickness of heart to acknowledge God’s presence and do his will even at the slightest indication that can come to us in many mysterious ways.

Then we should approach our prayer with a humble heart. A proud heart is never welcomed by God. Humility keeps us objective and disposed to the truth. Pride does the opposite. Humility keeps the true relationship we have with God. Pride distorts it.

And together with humility, we have to learn to be confident in our prayer. We have to banish doubts and questions about God and his goodness. God is not only the first and supreme being. He is also our father who loves us to madness. We should try to be personally direct with him, not hide in anonymity.

Then we have to be persevering in our prayer. No matter what happens, even if we may be waiting for ages, we just have to persevere. Our faith in God should be such that we give him full trust regardless of the trials and difficulties.

And lastly, we have to learn to accept God’s will, or at least to have a sense of abandonment in God’s ways. We are free to ask and to insist, even to ask for the moon, but we should always accept what God gives at the moment, whether we like or not.