“Great is the power of prayer!” Saint Therese of the Child Jesus told us, who while still a girl, fell asleep with her rosary in her hand. Prayer is a true heart to heart with God Y is at the center of every Christian’s life. It is a great gift from God, however, sometimes it is difficult for us to pray. Although we know that there is no foolproof method, here are some tips and clues that can sometimes help us to pray!
Prayer: Living in God
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What is prayer?
The sentence consists in establish a personal relationship with Godit is letting oneself be loved by him and responding to his love. It is spending time with the Lord, in an encounter with Him, it is listening to Him and talking with Him.
“Praying does not consist in thinking a lot, but in loving a lot”wrote Saint Teresa of Avila. Praying is not thinking about God but resting our heart on Him: it is not going through the way of the intellect, but through the way of the heart. Everyone can pray: baptized or not, laity or religious, just open your soul to the Lord and welcome him!
The life of prayer is above all a gift, a grace offered by God. It’s not about “pray” as if it were a duty, but to welcome this gift that is given to us to be able to turn to God as our father, to turn to Christ as our brother, our friend. prayer is free: nobody forces us to pray.
Praying is meeting someone and letting yourself be known, in a relationship that does not occur at the level of intelligence but at the level of the heart. The flame that lights this meeting consists of believing, hoping and loving. The prayer of the heart is also called theological prayerbecause God gives us the calls three theological virtues to cultivate them throughout our lives, in order to advance on the path of faith and prayer. These are abilities that it gives us to achieve it directly: it is about faith, hope and love.
Faith is trusting in the Lordbelieve in a God much greater than what our intellect can understand. hope is waiting: Great things happen over time. But hope is also rooted in faith: “Lord, I believe in your promises, you will give me much.” Finally, love, charity, the greatest of these virtues that, however, depends on the other two. Saint Teresa of Ávila uses the word “friendship” to designate our relationship with God: every encounter with friendship is an encounter with love. Thus, an exchange takes place, a communion with the other, as long as one opens his heart to him.
Why pray?
Prayer, basis of Christianity
Prayer is at the center and at the origin of the life of every Christian: it is what gives it its meaningit is “the secret of a truly vital Christianity” as Saint John Paul II said. A Christian who does not pray cuts himself off from his roots, drains his energy, gives without recharging himself and loses the meaning of all things: “Remain in me, and I will abide in you” (John 15,4).
In the Gospel according to Saint Lukethe apostles ask Christ: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11,1). Jesus grants this request and teaches them the Our Father prayer. Prayer is a direct inheritance from Christ who, by transmitting it to his apostles, transmitted it to his entire Church. Jesus himself spent many hours praying and encouraging the apostles to do the same “Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation; for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26,41). The prayer of Christ was above all that of the body of a man for God.
To pray is to give oneself to accompany the Lord. Saint Teresa of Avila emphasized this well: “Do not come to pray to receive, but first to give. To keep the Lord company”. The main purpose of prayer is not to receive graces. it is simply believe in the word of God, trust Him and love Him in the present tense. If we come to pray to offer ourselves freely, then when our prayer becomes dry and we get bored, it is easier to accept it in order to give everything to the Lord and remain with Him. Praying is offering God the most precious asset we have: time.. It is giving it a place in our daily life and placing it at the center of it.
pray to thank
In this heart to heart with the Lord, how good it is to say thank you! The prayer to give thanks to God is called a thanksgiving. Thanking God also means realizing all the benefits and wonders of him and accepting them. It is expressing true gratitude towards what surrounds us, and allows us to marvel at everything. There are many prayers of thanksgiving, but also some very beautiful psalms have the same meaning.
A psalm of thanksgiving: Psalm 137
“I thank you, Lord, with all my heart, because you have listened to the words of my mouth.
In the presence of the angels I sing for you, towards your holy Temple I prostrate myself.
I thank your name for your love and your truth, for your promise has surpassed your renown.
The day I called you, you listened to me, you increased the strength in my soul.
All the kings of the earth give you thanks, because they hear the promises of your mouth;
They sing of the ways of the Lord: “How great is the glory of the Lord!”
As exalted as the Lord is, he sees the humble, he knows the proud from afar!
If I walk in the midst of anguish, you give me life, in the face of the anger of my enemies, you stretch out your hand and your right hand saves me:
The Lord will do everything for me. Oh Lord, your love is eternal, do not stop the work of your hands!”
Saint Augustine said that “Singing is praying twice”. Praising the greatness and power of God can also be done with music! There are many praise songs, there are for all tastes. Thanks to , praise God with music every day!
Psalm, prayer or song of praise, the most important thing is to address the Lord a true: “Thank my God!”that comes from the bottom of the heart!
Pray to let go
The purpose of the sentence can also be put ourselves in God’s hands, give ourselves completely to him. We can pray to ask him to help us trust him completely, to let him guide our boat. When the facts overwhelm us, resorting to prayer is important, as in the case of the coronavirus crisis. Prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for example, have the vocation of melting us into the Heart of Christ, to offer ourselves to Him.
The Our Father, with its phrase “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” allows us to put ourselves in your hands. He reminds us that if we pray, it is not for the Lord to grant us the least of our wishes, but for him to guide us a little further towards holiness, along the path that is ours.
The Lord’s Prayer
“Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name;
let your kingdom come;
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread;
forgive our offenses
as we also forgive those who offend us;
Do not let us fall into temptation,
and deliver us from evil. Amen”
Abandonment Prayer by Charles de Foucauld
“My father, I abandon myself to you
Make of me what you want.
Whatever you do with me, I thank you
I’m ready for anything
I accept everything.
As long as Your will be done in me
and in all your creatures,
I wish for nothing more, my God.
I put my life in Your hands.
I give it to you, my God,
with all the love of my heart,
because I love you,
and because for me to love you is to give myself,
surrender myself into Your hands without measure,
with infinite confidence,
because you are my father”
The petition prayer
“Ask and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7,7). The purpose of prayer is also ask the Lord for something. But can we ask for everything?
Prayer is not intended to satisfy our human desires or to take us away from the path that God has for us. Especially since God is not some kind of magical genie who fulfills all our wishes. We must be careful not to make it a solution to all our problems. God’s action is felt especially in us: it brings us deep peace, joy, new strength. The Lord is not there to smooth over and remove all the difficulties in our path, and he will not. However, He is by our side to provide us with the necessary strength to overcome any ordeal. This is, for example, the case of healing prayers that, above all, transform our gaze and our hearts in the face of illness. There is also a prayer of protection or a prayer to ask for a job. The prayer of petition does not always change external things, but it undoubtedly transforms the person who prays. A prayer made with faith is always fruitful because it changes us. “And whatever you ask with faith in prayer, you will receive.” (Matthew 21,22).
The most famous prayer of petition is the second part of the Our Father: “Give us today our daily bread”when God is asked to help us so that we can overcome the obstacles of our daily journey with joy and love.
The fruits of prayer
Prayer changes the hearts of men and produces many fruits. They are rarely immediate, and not always in the expected way, but the more encouragement we have to give of our time to God, the more we see his long-term fruit in all areas of our lives.
The first and most beautiful fruit of prayer is charity. Christ saved the world, not through power but through humble love that stoops down to get closer to the one he saves. Prayer leads us to imitate Jesus and to open ourselves to love. When we pray, we walk the path of Christ and we seek to imitate it.
Many other fruits result from it:
• A deep peace in the depths of our hearts
• A true joy that radiates around us, independent of external storms
• Another safer way of working: we know that God is by our side
• A different look from the other, imprint of love and respect
• Another way to react to daily tests, to reread our failures, to build projects
• A look back on life, on the obstacles in our way
• A more lucid and profound view of the world
Prayer allows us to refocus on the essentials and not stay on the surface of things. He invites us to no longer live outside our hearts, but to gain in interiority and, therefore, in wisdom, in depth and in self-knowledge.
Specifically, how to pray? A practical guide
The grace of prayer, God gives us in prayer: we learn to pray by praying. Here is a small concrete step by step to pray more easily. Of course, we are all different, with particular sensitivities: so to adapt case by case!
find the right place
God is with me every day, at all times: I can pray from anywhere. But if I have trouble concentrating and not getting distracted, I try to put myself in a quiet place, a little away. Usually the best way is accommodate a small prayer corner in my house especially to pray, or go to a nearby church! I can also contemplate nature or in the quieter moments of my daily life, find beautiful ways to spend time with Jesus.
take a little time
A minute, half an hour, whatever, but…