Guidelines For Prayer
How Christ meets us in prayer and how we can draw closer to God through sincere and faithful prayer.
True prayer, which gives us access to God and admittance to His presence, is not a purely human act. For more than anything else it is a divine call, to which we are merely responding.
Christ Waits For Us
God is always ready to accept us. He calls us incessantly: 'all day long I have held out my hands' (Rom 10:21).
It hardly seems possible, but even the prospect of putting up with us for ever does not put Him off! This is so because he finds pleasure in our company. So our being with God is, as it were, a return of the exiled creation to the bosom of its Creator, like the return of Adam to paradise.
Christ Meets Us
He waits for us to pray, and looks forward to it: 'behold, I stand at the door and knock' (Rev 3:20). He declares in the Gospel the vital importance of prayer, urging us to pray at all times, tirelessly and ceaselessly. Why is this? It is while we are in prayer that Christ can get in touch with us, make His will known to us and grant us His grace.
The Power of the Cross
The Plea Through Blood
The reason that sin is abhorrent to the Father and grievous to His Son, is that it caused the cross and the excruciating agonies that were mercilessly inflicted upon the Lord by humankind. But the moment the sinner stands before the Father, clinging to the cross and making his or her plea through the blood of Christ, his sin falls away.
Willingness to Forgive
Christ endures our sins willingly. Though it may recur repeatedly over the same day He continues to forgive our sin, as long as we repent every time with a contrite heart. The suffering that He experienced is eloquent testimony to His readiness to bear all sins without limit.
With Humility
Bowing the head, beating the breast and soiling the forehead with dust.
With Confidence
Confident of Christ's forgiveness, compassion and delight in us.
In the Presence of God
Prayer is a great gift granted to man to bring him to God the Father through the mediation of Jesus Christ.
In the Name
We begin our prayer with the words, 'In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit' for He alone is worthy of worship.
The Doxology
Then follows the doxology (i.e., Glory) as a praising of the Holy Trinity and a testimony of His entire divine presence.
The Lord's Prayer
The Lord's prayer that follows should be addressed to the Father with all reverence, just as Abraham stood before God.
Faith Beyond Feelings
It is imperative that a person should have total faith, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God is present when he or she prays. We should not depend on sentiment in our relationship with God. Instead, we should be fortified by a faith that goes beyond our feelings.
God Is Always Present
The Flesh Resists Prayer
The flesh is the enemy of the human spirit. It finds no comfort in prayer... It malingers, affecting frailty, headaches, pains in the joints or back, or a pressing need to sleep.
The flesh behaves like the snake which flees from the snake-charmer and shuts its ears against his enchantment, knowing that his voice spells death.
Beware of Pharisaic Prayer
However, you will not find these distressing symptoms in a cold, Pharisaic prayer performed for the sake of reward. In this guise the flesh accepts prayer and gets really quite keen about it.
"But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret" (Matt 6:6).
Curbing the Flesh
Passive Action
Frequent prostration, fasting, silence, abstinence from luxury.
Active Action
Offering of genuine and cordial love to Christ, ceaseless dialogue.
Prayer & Time
Christ came to the world through the incarnation... time has been united with eternity in the person of Jesus Christ. Entering into Christ through prayer is in fact a glorification and sanctification of time and of the human act itself. True prayer is actually 'time-redeeming' and is a transformation of dead time into an immortal divine act.
"It is better to pray five minutes with a peaceful and serene spirit than a full hour in haste or three hours with boredom."
Christ Is Our Partner
Christ listens to our prayer and even shares in it. For without Christ our prayer does not come before the Father at all. Through Christ's mercy, love and humility we confidently approach the Father.
"We follow Christ, making petitions through His mouth, gathering up courage though His blood, cherishing hopes through His righteousness."
The Holy Spirit Cries Out
The Holy Spirit is very meek. He answers the call of man at once-provided that the person calls in sincerity, faith and simplicity. He finds no rest in cries and discords, or in a heart which is cruel, malicious, wrathful or proud.
Prayer concerns the Holy Spirit more than it concerns us. For through prayer the new man begotten by the Holy Spirit within us grows up till he attains enlightenment.
We Are Changed Into The Same Image
Deep Work
Through frequent prayer, we are transformed by renewing our minds. As we look to Christ again and again, His image is impressed upon our hearts.
Christ Formed Within
St Paul reveals to us this experience by saying, 'My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you!' (Gal 4:19).
Receiving Radiation
Constant speaking to Christ in prayer makes us, without realizing it, receptive to the impression of His image in the depths of our souls.
Prayer for Others
The joy of sharing with Christ in prayer and the honor of bearing the cross does not amount to the ultimate fulfillment of prayer. Rather, it represents a call to initiation into the mystery of prayer which transcends the human intellect. Prayer then becomes a source of power for others.
Evangelization
"A person praying privately and fervently in his or her room can bring about the salvation of thousands of souls, because of his or her union with Christ."
Ambassadors
"So we are ambassadors for Christ... We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5:20).
Bridging the Chasm
It is often difficult to get alongside sinners... However, by prayer we bridge the chasm which separates us from them. Prayer enables us to approach their hearts subtly, without their sensing it. We can enter their hearts and groan in them as if we were the guilty and wicked ones.
We Urgently Need Prayer
It is not only sinners and evil-doers who need prayers... You and I, too, desperately need others to pray for us. We ourselves are in dire need of someone to pray for us warm-heartedly, that the Spirit may expose to us our hidden sins.
The Most Serious Obligation
The person who feels the necessity of praying for sinners and neglects it is actually involved in a great sin, and bears the responsibility for their death!
"As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you" (1 Sam 12:23).