Learning the "Art" of Prayer

Introduction. We are going to come back today on the kind of prayer we have called a simple conversation with God. It's inner prayer, mental prayer. How do we learn to pray that way?

In times past, many little books were published with a title like "Method or prayer." In a way, there is no method of praying. Prayer is not something you learn as a science, with specific rules and principles. It's more like an art. The artist has certain general principles to go by and then he is quite free in practicing his art. Whether it be painting, or singing, he has a lot of freedom. And prayer is like that. It's meant to be something quite free.

A master of spirituality put it this way: "Mental prayer depends chiefly on the grace of God. There's no method for that. And you prepare for it not so much by methods that would remain mechanical, as by humility. "God gives his grace to the humble." (James 4:6) The best preparation for prayer is to have a good relationship with God, to live for God. Once again, to go back to my first sermon, the secret of prayer is love and holiness.

Finally, I should mention that Jesus gave us a teacher of prayer. That teacher is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said of him: "He will teach you all things." He dwells in us and he enlightens us. He helps us to understand the things of God. And that is so very precious, my Brothers and Sisters: to be enlightened and guided inwardly by the Holy Spirit. St. Paul in his letter to the Romans tells us how the Holy Spirit helps us to pray. "The Holy. Spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we ought." (Rom 8:26) Paul recognizes that he himself did not know how to pray as he ought. He says "we", that is all of us. We do not know how to pray as we ought, Paul included. But the Spirit himself, who dwells in us, makes intercession for us -- note the following words -- "with groanings which cannot be expressed in speech." Isn't that extraordinary? The Holy. Spirit makes us utter " groanings" that he initiates in our heart. Things we cannot express in words.

What are these groanings? I have my own understanding of them. I think they are the longings of the human heart for God. Often times we don't know what we need, what we ought to ask for. But, down deep in our heart we need, more than anything else, we need God. That is why the great St. Augustine in one of his books expresses in prayer form this thought: "Lord, you have made us for you and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you." Our hearts were made for God. That's why we're hungry for God all the time. Some people don't know what they're looking for, but down deep they are for God. The Holy Spirit awakens in our hearts that hunger and thirst for God, which is the best thing that can happen to us because it puts us on the track toward God. We have first to desire it and the Holy Spirit intensifies these desires and we experience them, in the words of St. Paul, as groanings. We cry out for God. I'm hungry, God! I'm hungry for you! It's like hunger pangs. How do you express that in words? You don't have to. You just know you're hungry. We seek nothing in particular. We need God and we want God. We're crying out for him. And when we have God, we have everything we need.

Jesus said: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its holiness, its righteousness, and everything else you need will be given to you.” You don't have to worry about everything else. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, God himself, and everything you need will be given to you.

Some Recommendations that may help in our Prayer as a Conversation with God

Try to have a quiet place for prayer. In some homes, where you have kids around, it's not easy. Do you know what some people do? They get up before anybody else. They are up early in the morning to find a little time of quiet, to be alone with the Lord. That's how important that quiet prayer time with God is. They get up before anybody else in the early hour to find quiet time, to be with the Lord in prayer. It may be in a special room in the house. Often time, it's simply a comfortable chair. That's your spot where you have no tensions, you're comfortable, not too comfortable to fall asleep, but comfortable enough not to be restless; a place where you can just close your eyes and think of the Lord, converse with him, as a friend with a friend.

Secondly, we need a regular time every day, as far as possible. It's easy enough for me - I've got my private room at the rectory. I can get up any time I want; I can get up early enough; I have my private time every morning and early. I know some people in the world would find that very difficult. Their schedule is not so predictable. However, many of you can do that. Many in fact do it. Set a time every day and don't skip it unless you have a very serious reason. This is sacred time, consecrated to God for your spiritual growth, for your prayer life, your union with God. It's very important.

Think of it carefully before selecting the time. Think of all the options. Don't put it at the end of the day when you're tired and falling asleep. Give the best time you can to the Lord. Most people will find it in the morning or, if you have kids in school, some time in the forenoon when all is quiet and you are alone at home. There are different possibilities. But everyone should select the most appropriate time for this date with God.

Another recommendation. Begin slowly on your journey of prayer with God, so as not to get discouraged. This is what I mean: if you are not accustomed to practice that quiet time of prayer, start with 10 minutes. It's not much. Once you become familiar with this kind of intimate, heart-to-heart conversation with God, you will want to go on 15 minutes, maybe 30 minutes, if your occupations permit it. Many lay people out there do it, who have a very busy schedule, but they carefully choose the right time and the right place. If you do that, you will experience something good happening in your spiritual life, in your union with God. It will be a tremendous blessing.

Think of this special prayer time as a private audience with God and you will see it as something very important. What a privilege to be the special guest, the personal friend invited by the Lord himself, for a private conference. When you are there, remember to pray more with your heart than with your mind. Don't look for beautiful thoughts; just tell the Lord you love him, and listen so as to experience his love. Praise him; rejoice in being with him. Once again, the secret of prayer is love. It's not so much thinking a lot, but loving a lot. That's what prayer is about. An ardent desire to please God, to spend time with him and enjoy his friendship. That's prayer of a superior kind.

Even if you don't feel inspired to pray - sometimes we're just not in a mood; we're just dumb! sometimes I feel like that too - remember: Just being with God is an expression of your love for him. You honor him by your very presence, even if you have nothing to say. That's not time wasted; it's time consecrated to God. It's like the sanctuary lamp that burns in front of the tabernacle. It's not doing anything useful. Just burning, consuming itself to proclaim that Jesus is there. It proclaims your faith in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Likewise, when we're present before the Lord and we're not inspired; we have put aside that time we could have used for something much easier and perhaps humanly more enjoyable, our very presence gives testimony to our faith and our love of God, with whom we have decided to spend time, to keep him company.

Now, a conversation with a friend follows no rules. It is spontaneous. It's natural. Nevertheless, there are a number of acts which are appropriate when we visit a friend, or when we talk to God. In our conversation with God, I would like to suggest a few points that can help us.

Before we do anything else, it is imperative that we take time to place ourselves in the presence of God. Close the door to the world behind you with all its distractions. Think: God is there in my soul. Become aware of his presence. My attention must be all on him. St. Francis de Sales, a great spiritual director, wrote: "Always begin your prayer, whether mental or vocal by placing yourself in the presence of God. Never violate that rule, and you shall see in a short while how useful it will prove to be."

St. Francis himself did a lot better than that. He developed the habit of living in the presence of God. Throughout the day, he was somewhat aware and conscious of the presence of God. If thus you learn to live in the Presence of God, it will be a cinch, when you come to pray, to place yourself in the presence of God.

Now, what St. Francis de Sales did, we can all learn to do: develop the habit of living in the presence of God. It will benefit us greatly in our prayer life. An interesting thing I experienced when I was a young religious: when I prepared to make my meditation, sometimes, just opening my meditation book, it could be any spiritual book, just emptied my mind of all foreign thoughts and put me in the presence of God.

It seems fairly obvious that before we pray we should place ourselves in the presence of God. Yet, surprisingly, we all catch ourselves at times starting to pray and, all of a sudden, we realize we are just saying prayers. We weren't thinking. We have not placed ourselves in the presence of God. This is more likely to happen with the prayers we say daily. We start saying prayers and realize we are not talking to God; we are actually talking to nobody. Just mumbling empty words from memory. That's why it is so important before we start to pray, to collect our thoughts, become aware of God who dwells in our soul. Then, we can begin to pray.

Now, what do we do when we pray? A lot of things. No order here. I will present different forms of prayer you may engage in, but they may come in any order. I will, however, present them in some kind of order. There is some logic to it.

An act of faith. I believe, Lord, that you are here. I believe, Lord, that you are waiting for me. Faith that God loves us and he is here waiting for us.

Adoration. A beautiful form of prayer. When we come in the presence of God we realize who he is, the Almighty, the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, and we are just little creatures, we bow down in humble adoration. "O Lord, I am not worthy that you should come into my house." "Who am I that you should care for me?" O God, you're wonderful! That's adoration, praise.

Rejoice in the Lord. That too is a beautiful form of prayer. Just being happy that you are with God. He is listening to you. He is all ears for you right now. Be happy to be with such a friend. Just rejoicing to be with your God is a way to honor and glorify him. You don't even have to say a word. Commune with God spiritually. Realize that you are in God and he in you, as Jesus says in John's Gospel.

Thanksgiving. A kind of prayer that can open up a long conversation with God. Just count your blessings. Thank him for this and that one. The beautiful day you have today. And on and on.

Holy desires and longing for God: Did you ever think about that? It's the lover's prayer. An ardent desire to be with God, our beloved. I long to be with you. There are many psalms that speak in those terms. "Yahweh is my God whom I seek. For you my flesh pines." (Ps 63:4) "As the hind longs for the running water, so my soul longs for my God." (Ps 42) Longing for God. That's the language of a lover. And that's prayer. Or, again, the Israelites went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to the temple, several tines a year. As they approached the holy city, they sang a special psalm: "I rejoiced because they said to me: we will go to the house of the Lord," where they expected to meet the Lord in his temple. (Ps 122) God is present in his temple in a special way. We meet him there. In the New Testament, Book of Revelation, longing for him is expressed beautifully in four simple words: "Come, Lord Jesus, come!''

Petition and intercession. We pray for our needs and. the needs of others. No need to dwell on this.

Offertory. Another thing we can do when we pray: we just offer ourselves to God. God, I offer you my heart, my life, the work of this day, my sufferings... The morning offering of the day is a traditional practice. I think it's nice, even right now, to offer our death, the supreme gift of ourselves, in which we give everything, like Jesus on the cross. "Into your hands, Father, I commend my spirit." A most beautiful act of love. We can do it now in anticipation of that supreme moment when we shall die.

Conclusion. Prayer, as a conversation with God, has no rules. It's very free-flowing. It is an art that we acquire by practice. We begin always by inviting the Holy Spirit to help us. Let us take time to put aside all foreign thoughts, to recollect and to become aware of the presence of God. Then, we can talk with God, we can pray as the Holy Spirit leads us. Amen.

Prayer Novena Index