We really need to be souls of prayer.
This is what is
proper to us. It’s a fundamental need because when we pray we connect
ourselves with our ultimate life source who is God. Our need for
prayer is infinitely more than our need for air and food. Before
anything else, it is what truly makes us a human person and a child of
God.
That is why Christ preached abundantly about it, and
encouraged us always to pray. He himself, who is both God and man,
prayed all the time. He prayed before he started his public life, when
he began his day of work as well as at the end of the day, when he
performed miracles, when he had to make big decisions.
In the end, he clearly told us to pray always and not to
lose heart when he talked about the parable of the persistent widow.
(cfr Lk 18,1ff) He also told us about the basic characteristics of our
prayer—that it should be sincere, confident, humble and constant.
We have to be wary of our great tendency to be dominated
by worldly and temporal concerns such that we fail to pray. That would
be a disaster since that would be like being deluded that we are doing
well in life when in fact we are failing big time.
We have to start to pick up the rudiments of prayer and
begin the process of becoming authentic souls of prayer, such that
wherever we are, whatever situation we may be in, somehow we are
always praying, we are always in touch with God.
This should not be difficult because we know that God is
always around. He is everywhere. Besides, he is always solicitous of
us. He cannot fail to love us. We may fail him and earn his anger, but
that anger would only be for a while, since his mercy is forever. We
can always manage to pray any time any place if we just would have the
proper disposition.
Definitely, we need to exercise our faith and be willing
to exert effort and make sacrifices. That is how we can aspire to make
our prayer alive always. We should put ourselves in God’s presence
always so we avoid anonymity in our intimate conversations with him.
What can also help is to train and use our imagination in
our prayer. In fact, we have to use all our human powers and
faculties—our intelligence and will, our feelings and memory, etc.—in
our prayer.
And we should be ready to handle the unavoidable
difficulties in our prayer. There will be times when we would feel dry
and uninspired or when we would be tempted to think that our prayer is
going nowhere.
Those difficulties are actually opportunities to improve
our prayer and to grow in our spiritual life. If we persevere in
praying, using all the means that are always available, we will see
how this improvement and growth are taking place, and be filled with
joy and satisfaction.
ourselves with our ultimate life source who is God. Our need for
prayer is infinitely more than our need for air and food. Before
anything else, it is what truly makes us a human person and a child of
God.
That is why Christ preached abundantly about it, and
encouraged us always to pray. He himself, who is both God and man,
prayed all the time. He prayed before he started his public life, when
he began his day of work as well as at the end of the day, when he
performed miracles, when he had to make big decisions.
In the end, he clearly told us to pray always and not to
lose heart when he talked about the parable of the persistent widow.
(cfr Lk 18,1ff) He also told us about the basic characteristics of our
prayer—that it should be sincere, confident, humble and constant.
We have to be wary of our great tendency to be dominated
by worldly and temporal concerns such that we fail to pray. That would
be a disaster since that would be like being deluded that we are doing
well in life when in fact we are failing big time.
We have to start to pick up the rudiments of prayer and
begin the process of becoming authentic souls of prayer, such that
wherever we are, whatever situation we may be in, somehow we are
always praying, we are always in touch with God.
This should not be difficult because we know that God is
always around. He is everywhere. Besides, he is always solicitous of
us. He cannot fail to love us. We may fail him and earn his anger, but
that anger would only be for a while, since his mercy is forever. We
can always manage to pray any time any place if we just would have the
proper disposition.
Definitely, we need to exercise our faith and be willing
to exert effort and make sacrifices. That is how we can aspire to make
our prayer alive always. We should put ourselves in God’s presence
always so we avoid anonymity in our intimate conversations with him.
What can also help is to train and use our imagination in
our prayer. In fact, we have to use all our human powers and
faculties—our intelligence and will, our feelings and memory, etc.—in
our prayer.
And we should be ready to handle the unavoidable
difficulties in our prayer. There will be times when we would feel dry
and uninspired or when we would be tempted to think that our prayer is
going nowhere.
Those difficulties are actually opportunities to improve
our prayer and to grow in our spiritual life. If we persevere in
praying, using all the means that are always available, we will see
how this improvement and growth are taking place, and be filled with
joy and satisfaction.
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