Why Pray?

Prayer, crystalized into words, assigns a permanent wavelength on which the dialogue has to be continued, even when our mind is occupied with other matters.

In a small work by St. Bonaventure, What A Heart Committed To Prayer Can Expect, I have found the following as food for thought.

By prayer the soul is cleansed from sin, replenished with charity, confirmed in faith, strengthened and refreshed in spirit. Prayer establishes the inner man, brings peace to the heart, knows the truth, conquers temptations, expels sorrow, renews the senses, stirs up languishing virtue, puts to flight tepidity, and scours the rust of vices… Prayer unlocks the gates of heaven, manifests divine secrets, and always finds free access to the ears of God.

• To patiently endure adversity – pray.
• To overcome tribulation and temptation – pray.
• To trample upon perverse inclinations – pray.
• To know the deceits of the devil and avoid them – pray.
• To live joyfully in the work God gives you – pray.
• To peacefully endure the ways of labor, toil, and affliction – pray.
• To exercise yourself in a spiritual course – pray.
• To not walk according to the desires of your flesh – pray.
• To put to flight vain and troubling thoughts – pray.
• To cultivate in your heart good desires, fervor, and devotion – pray.
• To strengthen and establish your heart and constant purpose in service of God the Father and to Jesus – pray.
• To uproot vice and sin, and plant virtue into your soul – pray.

Why should we pray?  We need prayer to be mindful of God and His vital importance in our lives.  As St. Gregory of Nazianzus says, “We must remember God more often than we breathe.”  Just as we cannot stay alive without breath, so we tempt death without prayer. 

Prayer safeguards our solid, life-giving relationship with God.  Prayer insures that our most cherished treasure is our friendship with Jesus.  As our Lord reminds us, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  We need to remember prayer does not keep God ‘up to date’ regarding our lives.  “Our Father knows what we need before we ask Him,” but He awaits our petition because the dignity of His children lies in their freedom.  We need to pray to exercise our free will in a way that reveals our ultimate desire is to be one with God.  Prayer keeps us realistic about our limitations and powerlessness.  (Fr. Peter John Calmeron, O.P.)

I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ [Jesus’ return], filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)