Chapter 21
The Moment of Communion: Why Do We Need to Pray?
If Almighty God, who created us
and sustains us in being, already knows our every need, why is it necessary
for Christians to pray? In his Confessions,
And yet, as the Catechism reminds us, prayer remains a vital necessity in the life of every believer. "If we do not allow the Spirit to lead us [through prayer], we fall back into the slavery of sin. How can the Holy Spirit be our life if our heart is far from him? . . . Prayer and' Christian life are inseparable" (2744, 2745). Prayer, then, is the way that we keep our heart close to God.
Therefore, before exploring the Christian tradition's three major "expressions of prayer - vocal, meditative, and contemplative - it is helpful to consider the general and very practical question of why we need to pray. There are seven reasons that reflect the seminal insight of the Catechism.
Prayer Keeps Us Mindful of Our Spiritual Nature
The materialism and sensuality of the world readily cause us to forget our spiritual essence. It drags us down, luring us into a false contentment that is governed by self-indulgence and selfishness. Worldliness undermines the humility and detachment essential to authentic holiness. It damages our self-knowledge, deadens our sense of dignity, and destroys our chances for self-perfection.
The spiritual act of prayer comes
to our rescue by recharging our spiritual self, which otherwise stagnates. By
looking beyond our carnal wants and needs, beyond the venal cravings of the
world, prayer focuses our hearts and minds on the glory of God and the beauty
of sanctity. It makes us long for the good things that really make all the difference
in our life.
Prayer Enables Us to Surrender Our Will to God
Perhaps the principal obstacle to
our growth in grace is our own prideful willfulness. It is not easy to turn
over our desires, to give up our ambitions and to relinquish control in our
life. The Lord was keenly aware of this struggle in us for, when teaching his
disciples to pray to the Father, he instructed them to implore: "Thy will
be done" (Mt 6: 10).
We need to pray that every day,
for doing God's will is not always easy, especially when our own will seems so
much more suitable. The filter of prayer constantly clarifies what is truly
good and fitting for us. Aided by prayer, our will then goes after divine
goodness with great gusto, averting all the false and deceptive goods that
clamor for our attention. Through the agency of prayer, our own willfulness
decreases as our souls become more perfectly conformed to the will of God in
which we take unbounded delight.
Prayer Purifies and Empowers Human Freedom
Like all of our human powers,
freedom itself must be formed and developed through our spiritual union with
Jesus. As the Catechism points out, "Human freedom.
. . attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude. . . . The
more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom
except in the service of what is good and just" (1731, 1733).
Prayer, which directs our heart, soul, mind, and strength to God, in turn directs our freedom toward God. It fills us with joy over our God-centered choices. Prayer equips us to live freely in the truth by orienting us to Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Prayer Enlightens Our Self-knowledge
The first step in reaching holiness is the acknowledgment of our personal need for mercy brought on by our sins. However, as the Catechism makes clear, "Without the knowledge Revelation gives of God we cannot recognize sin clearly" (387). The way we come to share in the knowledge of divine Revelation is precisely through prayer. Therefore, as Christians we rely on prayer to help us know our self-centered ways, and to turn them over to God confidently in the grace of his Spirit.
Prayer Disposes Us to Receive Divine Gifts
God, who "never ceases to
draw man to himself' (27), created man "to make him share in his own
blessed life" (1). But we need to be open and supple in order to accept
the graces that bless us with a sharing in God's divine life. Prayer provides
that spiritual preparation. It conditions and sensitizes us to the things of
God so that we can respond to them promptly, easily, joyfully.
Without prayer we become callous
and closed in on ourselves. Spiritual things seem superfluous to us. We become
haughty, dismissive, and presumptuous toward the things of God. But prayer
makes us attentive, watchful, and alert. It generates in us a holy anticipation
to participate in even the slightest and most subtle offerings of God's Holy
Spirit. It attunes us to the truth that sometimes God reveals him
self in wisps and whispers.
Prayer Fulfills Our Highest Vocation
The Catechism instructs us that
man "is 'the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake,'
and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life. It
was for this end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for
his dignity" (356; GS, 24).
Through ardent prayer, that God-given dignity is realized. Human beings were made to pray. So often we are tempted to discount prayer as a meaningless waste of time. We wonder what good can come of it. . . shouldn't we be doing something more concrete and practical? Yet heartfelt prayer effects more good in us and in others than we can ever know. It is the source of our self-fulfillment. It expands us, and perfects us, and completes us. In prayer we experience true communion with the saints and angels. . . a foretaste of the eternal beatitude of heaven.
Prayer Unites Us to God
The Catechism tells us that prayer is "a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God" from which we live out the mystery of faith (2558). People have many misconceived ideas about how we can connect with God. But, as one classic spiritual author reassures us, “by love God may be touched and embraced, never by thought.” It takes more than rational notions and concepts to bond with God. For the Lord longs to be one with us 'through the union of hearts. Prayer of the heart accomplishes that union.
In making us one with God, holy
prayer also repairs our inner disharmony and restores our integrity. And in so
doing, prayer serves the designs of God's