While we
often
still
think of
prayer
primarily
as
asking
God for
something,
prayer,
properly
understood,
is a
conversation
with God
or with
the
saints. Just as
we
cannot
hold a
conversation
with
another
person
unless
he can
hear us,
the very
act of
praying
is an
implicit
recognition
of the
presence
of God
or the
saints
here
with us.
And in
praying,
we
strengthen
that
recognition
of the
presence
of God,
which
draws us
closer
to Him.
That is
why the
Church
recommends
that we
pray
frequently
and make
prayer
an
important
part of
our
everyday
lives.
Prayer
is a
vital
part of
the
Christian
life.
There
are different
forms of
prayer,
ranging
from
more
traditional
prayers
to
prayers
borrowed
from
other
cultures
and
religious
traditions,
from the
use of
modern
music as
prayer
to
peaceful
and
profound
guided
meditations.
Each
session
begins
and ends
with a
prayer
experience.
Prayer
Unites
Us
with
God
Grace is a gift from God that enables us to live more fully in union with Him. It strengthens our desire to choose good over evil. It also helps us to manage difficulties in our lives better. When we feel humility, compassion, forgiveness we’re putting others’ needs before our own. These are signs of God’s graces working within us.
When we let Him work through us, we help Him to do the same for others. We can show His love for others in how we treat them and in how we pray for them.
Resist
Temptations
Our Lord taught us to pray “lead us not into temptation,” so that we can resist temptations against His will. Through prayer we are better able to resist the every day temptations such as envy, hatred, bearing grudges, greed, lust, and selfishness. These negative emotions don’t bring us any real joy or peace of mind.
Pray
for
Others
Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Pray for those who persecute and slander you” (Matthew 5:44). God wants us to pray for others, however we may feel about them. Such prayers remind us that one way or another, we are all in this journey towards holiness together.
Perseverance
in
Prayer
The most important thing is to persevere in your prayer life on your journey with God. Saint Hilary once said that “grace depends mostly on perseverance in prayer.”
There are times you might feel you just can’t concentrate, that there are too many distractions. Or perhaps you feel God’s not there. Pray anyway. God allows us to experience these times of “dryness” for us to grow spiritually. Many great religious scholars and saints went though the same things.
