To Live is to Pray

Prayer is considered by some as useless and yet by others as the most important activity of the day. Writing in Bible in Life a priest recalls his impressions of a discussion he had with a priest friend who spent a great deal of time in its practice. An experience of meeting with Jesus.

Hearing his friend talk about prayer made him envious. He was talking about meeting Jesus in prayer. It was a personal encounter with Jesus. It was, we would say, like meeting Jesus in a dream. However, not everybody has that kind of experience. It is the kind of gift given to those who prepare for it.

The writer asks himself why is he not adept in the practice of prayer. A requisite is  to know what prayer is, and he uses Henri Nouwen's words to explain prayer. "To live is to pray. To love is to pray and loving  is  serving." Another theologian explained, "Prayer is not like an emergency fund which you draw from in need. Prayer is the soul's place of rest, the soul's house. All living things have a place of repose. Birds have nests; foxes have dens; bees have hives. Prayer is our place of rest. The soul without this place of rest, wanders."

Prayer is like water to a fish, and air to us. Without prayer, we are living without a most important ingredient for life. Many of us believe that prayer is difficult when it is not. When we invite God to be with us, we have a prayer. When we have love within us, we are praying. When we meditate on the Gospel, and it moves into our life that is prayer. And when we want good things for others and the world, that is prayer.

In prayer, there is also great joy. It is being together with the beloved. Isn't that what heaven is? It is being enraptured with God's love. When the antenna and frequency are correct, we experience God with the whole body. Those without the taste for prayer will find it more like hell.  One has to know what prayer is, have a taste for it and enjoy it.

He concludes the article by telling us there is no royal road to prayer. Without effort, prayer comes rarely. We should go to those who are 'elders in prayer' for help. There are no persons with this gift from birth, he says; it's something acquired and he recommends that we make the effort to achieve prayer by starting with a period of 10 minutes a day.