April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
REFLECTION
Prayer, part III: struggling to pray, types of prayer
A key thing about praying is that the effectiveness of our prayer depends on God's great love for us and on our faith in God's power and love. One spiritual writer puts this so well: It is not the arithmetic of our prayer (how many prayers there are); it is not the rhetoric of our prayer (how fine or eloquent they are); it is not the geometry of our prayer (how long or structured they are); it is not even the music of our prayer (how sweet they sound) which God cares for.
Faith, hope and love are what count in prayer.
Prayer is about discipleship and a desire and love for God. St. John Chrysostom, writing some 1,700 years ago to early Christians who were struggling with prayer (it's good to know that things don't change too much with the centuries!), said: "Prayer is a precious way of communicating with God; it gladdens the soul and gives repose to its affections. You should not think of prayer as being a matter of words. It is a desire for God, an indescribable devotion, not of human origin, but the gift of God's grace."
That sounds wonderful, but many of us do struggle with prayer. Often, we battle various obstacles to praying. Time -- or lack of it -- and all that general busy-ness must be the number-one obstacle for most; yet prayer is so important, especially if we are really busy or stressed. Even a few snatched minutes of prayer in the whirl of all our activities can help us to refocus and regain some inner peace and strength, to have that vital gift of a tranquility of spirit.
It's important to match our prayer with our circumstances and lifestyle. As St. Francis de Sales wisely counsels: "The practice of devotion must differ for the gentleman and the artisan, the servant and the prince, for widow, young girls or wife. Further, it must be accommodated to their particular strength, circumstances and duties."
Why? Because, he adds, "true devotion never causes harm, but rather perfects everything we do; a devotion which conflicts with anyone's state of life is undoubtedly false."
A key thing, then, is to find a time and form of prayer that works for your lifestyle and circumstances. As Sister Maria Boulding, OSB, writes so sensibly in her beautiful book, "Gateway to Resurrection:" "Pray as you can; do not try to pray as you cannot!"
Another obstacle is discouragement in prayer. Perhaps we do not seem to get anything out of it, or there is a spiritual dryness, or our prayers of intercession seem unanswered. However, St. John Vianney warns us that "there is no greater cause of straying from the path of faithful perseverance than letting up in prayer."
Remember, we pray because we are made for prayer -- whether or not we feel we get something out of it; prayer is not a commercial contract or proposition made with God -- and prayers are answered in some way or another.
Once again, Sister Maria Boulding can help us here: "In true prayer, God is God, not an idol, not a comforting father figure fashioned in our own likeness and fitted to our needs....We are made for the living God, always ahead of us; who never fulfills our expectations but transcends them."
There are many, many ways we can pray. There are prayers of praise and thanksgiving where we just give thanks to God and kneel before God in wonder and awe. Here, we can use one of the psalms or a hymn of praise, or spend some time in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.
Whatever the case, it is good to pray like this every day -- maybe at the beginning and the end of each day, to remind ourselves of who we are and who God is, too!
Then there are prayers of intercession and petition. Jesus Christ, of course, is the intercessor, but we, too, can pray in this way. We seek not so much to change God's mind with our intercessions, but to seek out His will. As Pope Francis says, "We can say that God's heart is touched by our intercession, yet in reality He is there first. What our intercession achieves is that His power, His love and His faithfulness are shown ever more clearly."
We pray this way at the prayer of the faithful during Mass, or when we pray the Our Father; but many parishes also have intercessors or "prayer warriors," whose ministry it is to pray for others. What a wonderful ministry!
We also have what we might call liturgical prayer, where we gather as a community and pray. We see this especially when the sacraments are celebrated, and most especially the Mass -- which is one long prayer and, incidentally, is the "source and summit" of our life as a Church -- and also when the Divine Office is prayed.
It is so important to be focused and prayerful and to avoid that temptation of prayer on autopilot! We need to have full, conscious and engaged participation in what is being prayed and celebrated.
Let us give great thanks for the gift of prayer and remember, as Sister Maria reminds us: In the end, "you do not pray; you are prayed!"
(Father Barratt is pastor of St. Ambrose parish in Latham. He holds a doctorate in theology and was a professor at St. John's Seminary in England before coming to the U.S. in 2004.) [[In-content Ad]]
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