prayer

‘My Word shall not return to me void.’  Thus proclaimed the prophet Isaiah.

One of the cornerstones of Lent is prayer – the first of the ‘big three’: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  Our readings have focused quite a bit in the first days of Lent on fasting, but today they turn our attention to prayer.

We all know the importance of prayer.  We all know how central prayer has to be for our lives – talking to God, pouring out our hearts to God, asking God for what we need.

And, prayer is indeed all of that and more.  I say ‘more’ because if we compare prayer to the living intimacy between people who love each other, we will clearly see that if their conversations are one-sided, if they do not let the other speak, if they do not listen with the same intensity with which the other pours out their needs, then something is wrong.  Communication does not exist. 

As I tell couples preparing for marriage, communication needs the active participation of both parties.  If one party is speaking, but the other party is not listening, there is no communication happening, and nothing is being accomplished.

The same is true with prayer.  There is no communication taking place between us and God is at least part of our prayer does not include sitting quietly and listening.

In this Lenten season we are challenged to evaluate our spiritual life, and to consider how we pray.  Is there room in my time with God to just sit quietly and listen to Him, or am I, for instance, trying to ‘squeeze a rosary in’ during Mass?  Must I always be the one doing the talking or reading or planning, or do I allow God to do some of that as well?

May our answers to these questions allow us to make the changes we need in our prayer life, so that a greater communication with God will indeed lead us ever closer to the Father’s Kingdom of true and lasting peace.