PRAY MORE, MUCH MORE

“One day [Jesus] was praying in a certain place.” –Luke 11:1

“One of [Jesus’] disciples asked Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples’ ” (Lk 11:1). Jesus answered with a ‘Yes’ and a ‘No’: “Yes, I’ll teach you to pray.” “No, I won’t teach you as John taught his disciples.” Jesus teaches us not to imitate St. John’s disciples, pagans (Mt 6:8), or anyone else when we pray. We learn most things by imitation, but we cannot learn to pray this way.

Prayer is not primarily an activity but a relationship. Every relationship is unique. We learn to relate by relating, not by imitating. Likewise, we learn to pray by praying. Although we can learn some things about prayer from others, prayer is learned primarily by on-the-job training. Therefore, those who pray the most often pray the best. There’s no substitute for spending a lot of time with someone in building a deep, personal relationship. The Lord teaches us to pray by calling us to pray often, even for hours (e.g. Mk 1:35; Lk 6:12). Give the Lord both quality and quantity time, and He will teach you to pray.

PRAYER: Father, give me the grace to stifle the flesh and stir up the spirit of prayer (Gal 5:17).
PROMISE: “Steadfast is His kindness toward us, and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever.” –Ps 117:2
PRAISE: In her diary, St. Faustina wrote, “Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God.”