The Secret of Prayer is Love

Introduction. During this novena I would like to show you how you can discover God through prayer and how you can develop a deep prayer life.

To begin, let me recall how, some years ago, the famous Bishop Fulton Sheen gave a retreat to priests. And in this retreat he shared with them something of his personal spiritual life. He told them: Every day I spend a full hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. That's sacred time. And he added: That's where I get my strength. That's where my faith is kindled. That's what enables me to function.

The implication is that if you cut yourself off from the source of your spiritual life because you are so busy doing things, you're going to dry up. You will have nothing to give to the world.

That retreat of Bishop Sheen was not only heard by many priests; it was recorded on tape and heard by many more. I have known a number of priests who, because of Bishop Sheen, spend their hour in chapel before the Blessed Sacrament, in prayer every day. It takes an extraordinary emergency to prevent them from spending that hour in prayer with Our Lord.

Now, when priests in large numbers do this, there is going to be holiness in the Church, there is going to be power. God will live in us, priests, and we will have an impact on the world because we will not be preaching from what we have learned in books; we will preach from what we have learned from a direct experience of Jesus Christ. As great a theologian as Thomas Aquinas said, toward the end of his life: "I have learned more at the foot of the crucifix than in all the books in the world.

Prayer Reflects our Love of God

Why is prayer so important, so fruitful in our spiritual life? Because our prayer life reflects our love of God, and the quality of our prayer life reflects the quality of our love relationship with God. If we really are in love with him, we will see to it that we spend time with him. It's a longing and a desire of our heart to be with someone we love.

We all know that by experience. Young people, as soon as they fall in love, what do they do? They spend time together. It's the beginning of a courtship. And what do they do when they spend time together? They open their hearts to each other. They talk about a lot of things, many unimportant. But basically, the message they convey is: "I love you."

When we do that with God, that's prayer. Prayer is conversing with God, spending time with him, talking with him, not necessarily about lofty ideas, about religion; just telling him about what you've done through the day, as you do with a friend; perhaps asking him to help you. Prayer is a conversation with the one you love. Just as simple as that.

Now, when you engage in a conversation with a friend, you don't go looking through a book to find some nice words to say to that friend. What kind of a friendship would you have if you had to use the words of somebody else? You speak the words that come from your heart. It may not be lofty ideas you talk about. You just talk about your relationship with your friend, or something of your life that you want to share.

But at all times, we must never forget that a conversation with a friend is not a monologue. We talk, but most importantly, especially when we're conversing with God, we listen more than we talk. When we talk to the Lord in prayer, we don't always experience his presence, that he is near and listening to us. But when he speaks to us, then we know he is there. He touches us in some mysterious way. We experience the power of his love, like a pull, a tug, drawing our heart to himself. Sometimes, it's the only way he communicates with us. He doesn't usually talk in particular words. Sometimes he does, but often times it's just like a feeling that he loves us. Our hearts are burning, as happened to the disciples of Emmaus on that Easter afternoon. They were walking on their way back from Jerusalem to the little village of Emmaus where they lived, when Jesus accosted them "incognito." They were talking about the events of the last few days: how Jesus had been put to death and laid in a tomb. Their hearts were drooping because they had expected that Jesus would be the Savior of Israel, and now their hopes were dashed.

Now, as they were walking along the road, Jesus began to explain to them all about the prophecies concerning the Messiah. He showed them how all that happened was meant to be. And when they arrived at their home, they invited the stranger to stay over. As they sat at table for supper, the mysterious guest took a piece of bread, broke it, said a blessing, then vanished. At the breaking of the bread they recognized Jesus, who had been walking with them on the way. And they said, "Were not our hearts burning within us as he spoke to us on the way?" Yes, their hearts were burning with love, they were on fire.

Often times, that's the way Jesus speaks to us, if we have a listening heart. We just experience a warmth inside. We feel a great love of God in our heart. It is Jesus who reveals his love to us. And, you know, when that happens, our lives are transformed. Something happens that changes our lives. We have encountered God and we just know it's real. You may not be able to prove it to anybody else, but you know very well for yourself that something wonderful has happened and your life is changed. We could say that God has come alive in you. He suddenly becomes the most important person in your life.

Prayer is the expression of our friendship with God, and the secret of prayer is to be in love with God. The more we are in love with God, the more natural prayer will come. Just like when a boy and girl are in love. Just being together, even if you have nothing to say, just rejoicing to be together, you're telling something, you're conveying a message. And the message is: I love you. When you just think of God, that he dwells in your soul, that he loves you, you have experienced him. You have just been sitting there, perhaps, thinking about that and feeling happy that God loves you, and he is very close to you. That's prayer. Just as simple as that. You're really yourself in the presence of God and you discover God's love. Yes, to have a good life of prayer, we must be in love with God.

And how is this love of God developed? Very simply, by keeping company with your beloved. It's just like a human courtship. Keeping company, you get to know each other better; your love grows; you want to spend more time together, don't you? That's the natural inclination of the lover: to be with his beloved one.

When we have that, we don't have to force ourselves to pray. We have an inner desire, a hunger and thirst to be with God. When we have reached that point, prayer becomes part of our whole life, not something you do just once in a while. You cannot pray well morning and night, or even at meal time, unless you are in love with God 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. When you have that, you have the secret of a good prayer life.

If you allow yourself to forfeit God the rest of the day, be assured that you will not be able to pray well at any particular moment of the day when you say: it's prayer time. Your prayer is going to be just words. It will not mean much unless you have a great love of God in your heart.

So, if you want to learn to pray, remember this: the secret of prayer is love. Develop the love of God in your life. Take time to be with the Lord, like a lover.

I could give you another example: marriage. The love of God and the love of husband and wife, and even the love of a friend, they all follow the same basic rule. There is not a different rule for loving God and loving one another. Love is love. It is born and it grows the same way. You need to spend time with your loved one, to share your interests, your very life with one another. You need to communicate.

I see many marriages break down for no other reason. Marriages that promised to be great, they were great at one time, they promised to bring much happiness, to be strong and lasting. The first thing you know, the children are married, husband and wife find themselves facing each other, and to their amazement, they have little or nothing in common. They want to separate. There is nothing that binds them together any longer. Why? Because during many years husband and wife had been living in separate worlds. They did not take time to be lovers, to share their lives with each other. They were so busy working for their family, earning their living, especially now when the woman often times, regretfully, finds herself obliged to work also. They come home, they're tired. They have no time to spend with each other and enjoy their company. When that happens, after a while they realize they have little in common, no common interest. Their love has died out.

You see, it's the same with God. If you don't entertain a good relationship with the Lord regularly, you'll soon find out you have nothing more to talk about with him. He'll be a stranger to you. And you will say: What has happened to my faith? I can't pray anymore. God seems to be so far away! I've lost touch with him. And I actually have.

Conclusion. So, the whole message I bring to you tonight, my friends, is very simple: if you want to develop a good prayer life, the secret is love. Love God, love him with all your heart. Develop a friendship with Jesus. Then, prayer will come naturally.

We'll say much more about what we do when we pray. But tonight's message is the most basic of all the nine teachings I'm going to give you during this novena. The secret of a good prayer life is love. Amen.

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