The Unfailing Power of Prayer

In this world we live in – rife with conflict, intrigue, sorrow, loneliness, unchecked ambition, and the obnoxiously intoxicating pride of life – the currency of personal confidence is human power, possession, and prestige. It is all good if I “can do”, “can have” and “can be seen”. After all, nobody wants to be a “nobody”.

Yet, faced with the reality of Life-as-it-Happens crises, challenges, and dilemmas, topped off by good old-fashioned human limitations and imperfections, many times (more than we may realize), we are left with what most would consider the last recourse: prayer. It is ironic that He Who should be first in our lives is relegated to the very darkest cobweb-infested recesses of the human experience.

Do You Pray?

Most, if not all, people make time for what is truly important to them: family, friends, work, pleasure. The busier a person gets, the easier it is to make excuses for other “not so urgent” things, such as the gym (Ahh – those wasted memberships which go unused after the first two-spirited sessions!), a new diet (a dime a dozen) and God. When the day seems too short at 24 hours for everything you think is crucial, who has time for Someone you cannot even see?

Still – the Catechism of the Catholic Church (point 2558) refers to prayer as a “vital and personal relationship with the living and true God”. It is vital – not just important. It is necessary and essential. It is personal: requiring our attention and effort, our correspondence and time.

Pater Noster, Our Father

Here’s the clincher and the crux of it all: the living and true God. He is very much alive and not just a footnote in some dusty history book. He is the One True God and we are called to correspond with Him in real-time, all the time, in prayer. Abba, Our Father. This is one of the greatest gifts we have been given – that God is our Father. As errant and forgetful as we – His children – have been, our Heavenly Father is always ready to forgive us if we turn to Him as the prodigal son did to his own father. Unworthy we may be, yet we are precious to Him.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows (Mt 10:29-31, RSVCE).

Praying with Abandon

It is easier said than done – praying with trust and abandonment to Divine Providence, that is. Perhaps, it is much like that situation with the camel going through the eye of a needle. I know I have prayed many times, begging for help, yet unwilling to surrender my two overloaded pieces of check-in baggage of expectations and need for control. It is not His will, but mine be done.

Recently, I attended a recollection during which I heard a priest preach a meditation about the first beatitude:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:3, RSVCE)

I have often struggled to understand what it really meant to be “poor in spirit” and it was a moment of revelation for me then to realize that in prayer – in my relationship with God, my Father – I had not been spiritually poor.

In a One-sided Conversation

Many times, in approaching God, I did so, anxious for my numerous human limitations and defects, burdened by fears of that which I could not fix or have the answers to. I “prayed” with many attachments, yet I did not really pray. I performed my standard anxiety-driven stand-up routine many times, unmindful of Who I was really talking to. I failed to listen.  It was not a conversation; it was a monologue and talking God’s ear off.

But He still listened to me. He heard me even when I could not be bothered to stop talking for two seconds and just listen to Him:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Mt. 11:28-29, RSVCE).

An Unparalleled Super Power

Far from being the last course of action, prayer should be our knee-jerk reaction, our first line of defense; the impulse of our hearts. As helpless as one may feel in the face of human tragedy, social turmoil, and inexplicable suffering, it is our Father God Who invites us to stay the course with Him and let Him help us. We place our trust, not in other people or things which can disappoint, diminish, or be defeated, but in God Almighty Himself.

There are countless ways of praying, as I have already told you. We children of God don’t need a method, an artificial system, to talk with our Father. Love is inventive, full of initiative. If we truly love, we will discover our own intimate paths to lead us to a continuous conversation with Our Lord. (Saint Josemaria Escriva, “A Life of Prayer”, Friends of God, point 255)