180. Objects and Qualities of Prayer

The following illustrates the qualities of prayer: "He that adoreth God with joy shall be accepted; and his prayer shall approach even, to the clouds" (Ecclus. 35:19). "Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight: the lifting up of my hands, as an evening sacrifice" (Ps. 140:2). "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him" (Ps. 144:18). "Ask, and it shall be given you" (Matt. 7:7).

What is prayer?

— Prayer is the lifting up of our minds and hearts to God.

1. Prayer is loving conversation with God. The mere thought of God is not prayer: devils think of God, but they do not pray. In prayer, we concentrate all the powers of our souls and elevate them to God.

Is it not an honour to be allowed to talk to the President of our country? But at any moment we can talk to God Almighty in prayer; He has no hours of appointment; He has no secretaries to forbid our entrance into His presence.

2. God not only permits, but commands us to pray. Prayer is a privilege and a duty.

"And he also told them a parable — that they must always pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1). God wants us to talk to Him at any hour of the day and night, and even of the most trifling things. The more often we speak to Him, the better is He pleased. "Pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17).

3. Prayer includes every kind of divine worship: reception of the sacraments, hearing Mass, attending sermons, Benediction, Vespers, etc. All devotions of the Church are prayers.

Prayer is a means by which we obtain God's help. No man can be just who does not pray. Prayer is a recognition of the Creator and His power.

Why do we pray?

— We pray:

1. To adore God, expressing to Him our love and loyalty. — This is the prayer of praise. We ought to praise God for His infinite perfections. The Church praises Him unceasingly.

The Gloria and Sanctus in the Mass, the Te Deum, and the Gloria Patri are all prayers of praise. The Blessed Virgin praised God in the Magnificat. We must adore God as becomes reasonable human beings. Chain prayers are foolish.

2. To thank him for his favours. — This is the prayer of thanksgiving. All we have comes from God, and we are obliged to render Him thanks. Too many take His favours for granted, and neglect to thank Him.

Christ Himself complained when He healed ten lepers, for only one returned to give Him thanks (Luke 17:12-19). If somebody picks up a pencil we have dropped, we hasten to thank him with a smile; but for God Who made us and keeps us in health and happiness, we are stingy. A Te Deum is sung for occasions of solemn thanksgiving.

3. To obtain from Him the pardon of our sins, and the remission of their punishment. — This is the prayer of contrition. This is penitential prayer, as the Miserere, It is a form of petition, for by it we ask God to forgive us.

The good thief prayed: "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom" (Luke 23:42). And how well and quickly he was rewarded! God never forgives our sins without contrition.

4. To ask for graces and blessings for ourselves and others. — This is the prayer of petition. God wishes us to ask Him for all that we need, spiritual or temporal. He is not ignorant of our needs; He knows them better than we do. But He prefers to have us ask Him, so that we may not take His favours for granted, but recognize our dependence.

Christ Himself used a prayer of petition in the Garden and on the Cross. The Christians prayed for the deliverance of Peter when he was in prison. "Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom. 10:13).

How should we pray?

— We should pray:

1. With attention. — We should remember to Whom we are talking, and avoid deliberate distractions. Let us prepare ourselves before prayer. Let us assume a reverent posture, and forget earthly distractions.

To be properly attentive, we must pay attention to the words we say, and to God Who hears. In order to be pleasing to God, we must pray in the name of Jesus and in accordance with His will. We must therefore pray for whatever is for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The Church prays always in the name of Christ: "Through Christ our Lord." Our Lord promised: "If you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you" (John 16:23).

2. With a conviction of our own helplessness and our dependence upon God. — We should humbly acknowledge our nothingness, our unworthiness, and God's greatness.

"The prayer of him that humbleth himself shall pierce the clouds" (Ecclus. 35:21). Remember how Christ praised the publican who humbly struck his breast and prayed: "O God, be merciful to me a sinner." We are entirely dependent on God our Creator; whatever He refuses us, we cannot have. "Without me, you can do nothing." (John 15:5).

3. With a great desire for the graces we beg of Him. — It is far from polite to a fellow-man to ask him for something and at the same time to act as if we did not care whether he granted our request or not. How much more reprehensible such an action would be before Almighty God!

To prove our great desire, for the favour we ask, we must be sure to possess a pure heart, to be in the state of grace. Even the prayer of sinners is profitable, especially when they are sorry for their sins; but the purer our heart is, the better is God disposed to hear our petitions. Who would have the temerity to enter a king's presence clad in filthy and torn garments? Yet in praying with an impure heart a man would be doing much worse—coming into the presence of God with a stained soul.

4. With loving trust in His goodness. — We should have confidence, filled with a firm belief that God will grant our prayer if it is for our good. God loves to see faith, confidence, and trust in our hearts. At the same time, we should be resigned to God's will. We must leave to God's good pleasure the granting or withholding of our wish, how and when He would grant it.

"Amen I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Arise, and hurl thyself into the sea,' and does not waver in his heart, but believes that whatever he says will be done, it shall be done for him" (Mark 11:23). Our Lord prayed in the Garden: "Not my will, but thine be done" (Luke 22:42). He had asked that the chalice might pass from Him, but left the answering of the petition to His Heavenly Father. God knows best what is for our good. We ought not to dictate to Him how and when to answer our prayers.

5. With perseverance. — Even if our petition is not immediately granted, we should not stop praying. "We must always pray, and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1).

Our Lord Himself told the parable of the man who continued knocking, and thus actually forced his friend to give him what he wanted. St. Monica prayed for eighteen years for the conversion of her son; after that he became a Doctor of the Church and a great saint — St. Augustine. Our Lord also gave us the example in this; after having laboured all day. He frequently passed the night in prayer.