"Lord Teach Us to Pray"
"Lord Teach us to pray"
These are the words in which the disciples ask Jesus. What follows this request is arguably the most famous prayer in all of Christianity, The Our Father. So what does it mean to pray? How does one pray? Most importantly how can one “pray without ceasing?” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5: 17)
Prayer in its simplest form a conversation, a certain, intimate dialogue with God. The revolutionary aspect of the, “Our Father” is the fact that Jesus exhorts his disciples to call God “Abba”, which is a very intimate way of saying “father.” Jesus would use this title many times throughout his public ministry most notably during his agony in the garden to illustrate this new oneness with the father of all creation. This new, radical way of viewing God as father was very different from the traditional, Jewish way of communing with God. God, in the Old Testament was viewed more in a fearful, and reverent manner. There is nothing wrong with viewing God in this way, but the beauty of the Our Father is that you have both; you have the reverence, accompanied by the childlike uttering of, “Abba”
St. Josemaria Escriva reflects on the proper disposition of prayer as he states,
“How should we pray? I would go as far as to say, without fear of being mistaken, that there are many countless ways of praying. But I would like all of us to pray genuinely, as God’s children, not gabbling away like hypocrites who will hear from Jesus’ lips, “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord!” shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven. People who live by hypocrisy can perhaps achieve “the sound of prayer says St. Augustine but they can not possess its voice, because there is no life in them.” (p.388)
He also says,
“Let us try therefore, never to lose our supernatural outlook. Let us see the hand of God I everything that happens to us: both in unpleasant things, in times of consolation and in times of sorrow…Your first instinct always should be to talk to your father God, whom we should seek in the depths of our souls. And we cannot consider this a trivial or unimportant matter. On the contrary, it is a clear sign of a deep interior life, of a true dialogue of love. Far from being psychologically deforming, constant prayer should be for a Christian as natural as the beating of his heart.” (p.393-394)
In both of these quotations Escriva is highlighting the proper disposition that one must have when praying. This attitude ultimately boils down to being able to be humble and dependent as a child, while remaining full of hope and realization that the Lord actually does care about our day to day affairs. To Escriva it is more important that a person constantly communicate with God then just compartmentalizing him into a few carefully, selected prayer times. I have unfortunately fallen many times into this damaging tendency in my prayer life of isolating God into several prayerful compartments throughout the day. It is important to also note that I am in no way advocating a prayer life devoid of structure, and tradition. What I am saying instead is that one needs to communicate with God constantly throughout the day, in all the trials, heartbreaks, successes, and accomplishments.
The simplest way to do this is to talk with God throughout the day. Tell him everything your joys, your sorrows, your fears, your concerns. Treat him like he is a living, breathing being as St. Peter proclaims, “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” (cf. 1Peter 5:7) Once you begin this never ending dialogue then all of the fixed prayers and holy hours will bear much more fruit. We must never lose site that true prayer is a conversation. The more you do this the more radically your life will change and you all will become the saints that the Lord has predestined all of you to be.
These are the words in which the disciples ask Jesus. What follows this request is arguably the most famous prayer in all of Christianity, The Our Father. So what does it mean to pray? How does one pray? Most importantly how can one “pray without ceasing?” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5: 17)
Prayer in its simplest form a conversation, a certain, intimate dialogue with God. The revolutionary aspect of the, “Our Father” is the fact that Jesus exhorts his disciples to call God “Abba”, which is a very intimate way of saying “father.” Jesus would use this title many times throughout his public ministry most notably during his agony in the garden to illustrate this new oneness with the father of all creation. This new, radical way of viewing God as father was very different from the traditional, Jewish way of communing with God. God, in the Old Testament was viewed more in a fearful, and reverent manner. There is nothing wrong with viewing God in this way, but the beauty of the Our Father is that you have both; you have the reverence, accompanied by the childlike uttering of, “Abba”
St. Josemaria Escriva reflects on the proper disposition of prayer as he states,
“How should we pray? I would go as far as to say, without fear of being mistaken, that there are many countless ways of praying. But I would like all of us to pray genuinely, as God’s children, not gabbling away like hypocrites who will hear from Jesus’ lips, “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord!” shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven. People who live by hypocrisy can perhaps achieve “the sound of prayer says St. Augustine but they can not possess its voice, because there is no life in them.” (p.388)
He also says,
“Let us try therefore, never to lose our supernatural outlook. Let us see the hand of God I everything that happens to us: both in unpleasant things, in times of consolation and in times of sorrow…Your first instinct always should be to talk to your father God, whom we should seek in the depths of our souls. And we cannot consider this a trivial or unimportant matter. On the contrary, it is a clear sign of a deep interior life, of a true dialogue of love. Far from being psychologically deforming, constant prayer should be for a Christian as natural as the beating of his heart.” (p.393-394)
In both of these quotations Escriva is highlighting the proper disposition that one must have when praying. This attitude ultimately boils down to being able to be humble and dependent as a child, while remaining full of hope and realization that the Lord actually does care about our day to day affairs. To Escriva it is more important that a person constantly communicate with God then just compartmentalizing him into a few carefully, selected prayer times. I have unfortunately fallen many times into this damaging tendency in my prayer life of isolating God into several prayerful compartments throughout the day. It is important to also note that I am in no way advocating a prayer life devoid of structure, and tradition. What I am saying instead is that one needs to communicate with God constantly throughout the day, in all the trials, heartbreaks, successes, and accomplishments.
The simplest way to do this is to talk with God throughout the day. Tell him everything your joys, your sorrows, your fears, your concerns. Treat him like he is a living, breathing being as St. Peter proclaims, “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” (cf. 1Peter 5:7) Once you begin this never ending dialogue then all of the fixed prayers and holy hours will bear much more fruit. We must never lose site that true prayer is a conversation. The more you do this the more radically your life will change and you all will become the saints that the Lord has predestined all of you to be.
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