Prayer and life

WE have to be reminded that the quality of our prayer

determines in the end the quality of our life. How our prayer is will

somehow shape how our life will be. And that’s simply because our

prayer is the basic way of connecting with God who is the source and

keeper of our life, and in fact, in whose image and likeness we have

been created, and whose life we are supposed to participate.

            In other words, the ideal life we ought to have is when

our life enters into the very life of God. And that ideal is basically

pursued in our earthly sojourn through our prayer which is how we

first and last relate ourselves with God.

            If we do not have a life of prayer, the best thing that

can happen to us is to simply lead an animal life. It might be a

rational life too, but it would only be up to there at its best state,

which is not yet what is ideal for us. And certainly, that rationality

would be erratic.

            And when our life of prayer is weak, when our prayer is

mainly nominal, external if not hypocritical, then it would certainly

be shown in our life too. We would be playing the game of deception

and self-justification. We would not be able to cope with everything

that can happen in our life, both the good and the bad things. There

would be many inconsistencies in our life.

            We have to see to it that we learn how to really pray.

That is, we have to learn how to vitally engage with God, our Father

and Creator, mainly through our mind and heart, and later through the

other faculties and powers that we have—our imagination, memory,

feelings and passions, and the physical and natural powers we have.

            Ideally, everything should be an act of prayer, whether we

are doing our sacred or mundane duties, whether things are good or bad

for us, whether we are alone or in a crowd, etc.

            Prayer should not be understood only in its sacred, solemn

mode. It can lend itself to all the situations and circumstances of

our life. It is practicable in any situation. We just have to develop

the proper discipline which, of course, will require some training.

            And just like any training, it at first has to be taught

under a controlled environment. That is why, at the beginning we were

taught as children to recite and put into memory some vocal prayers.

We may not understand everything said there, but that at least

initiates us to the practice of prayer.

            Then further steps ought to be made. We have to learn how

to exercise our faith, how to meditate and contemplate, how to find a

proper place, time and even posture for it. And then how we can have

presence of God the whole day, rectitude of intention in all our

actions, the habit of offering everything to God, and literally of

conversing with God and discerning his will as we go on with our daily

activities.

            In the end, the quality of our life is determined by the

quality of our prayer. If we truly are with God the whole time, we

would know what to do at any given moment. We would practically share

in the very power, wisdom and goodness of God himself.

            We can just imagine how the world would be if our general

culture is mainly animated by a life of genuine prayer. We can expect

peace and joy to reign among us. There would be unity among ourselves

in spite of our unavoidable differences and conflicts. There is going

to be love and mercy and patience and compassion, etc.

            We should do everything to cultivate a life, if not, a

culture of prayer. Let’s take the challenge. We should not just

acknowledge this need. We have to attend to it with an appropriate

action plan.