Yesterday we discussed receiving God’s graces at Holy Mass; today we focus on receiving His graces through our prayer.
Prayer of Petition
Whereas merit is related to divine justice as a reward, prayer is addressed to divine mercy which often grants our prayers without any merit of our own.
Prayer is not an effort of the human soul to change the mind of God, which is impossible. Prayer is the cause ordained to receive the gift of God. As St. Gregory the Great has said, “Men ought by prayer to dispose themselves to receive what Almighty God from eternity has decided to give them.” And St. Thomas Aquinas adds: “For we pray, not that we may change the divine disposition, but that we may impetrate that which God has disposed to be fulfilled by our prayers.”
For just as seed is necessary for a harvest, so too is prayer necessary to obtain the help of God. To say that everything would have happened already and does not depend on our prayers would be foolish. In true prayer we ask for the graces necessary for salvation with humility, confidence, and perseverance. We cooperate in our salvation by asking for the graces to obtain it. The grace of final perseverance and of efficacious grace (which preserves us from mortal sin) cannot be merited; however, they can be obtained through prayer.
Liturgical Prayer
The psalmody of the Divine Office is the great prayer of the Church; a day and night prayer, which ought never to cease on the surface of the earth, as the Mass does not. For a soul who has no personal life of prayer, the recitation of the Divine Office becomes wholly exterior. As the soul is not in a state or habit of recollection, it is assailed by thoughts of work, studies, business affairs, and the like throughout the prayers. From mental prayer, one praying the Office finds the habit of recollection and the spirit of prayer. And in liturgical prayer, mental prayer finds a source of contemplation and a rule against individual illusions.
Mental Prayer
St. Teresa of Avila summarized it best: “Mental prayer is nothing else, in my opinion, but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him Who, as we know, loves us.” Any method used should be simple and aid in the spontaneity and continuity of prayer, which is the movement of our soul ascending to God.
Prayer must be prepared by an act of humility, proceeding from the three theological virtues (which unite us to God and animate the virtue of religion), and obtain for us the light and inspirations of the Holy Ghost. Using this method, after the act of humility we should make a profound act of faith in some fundamental truth of the Faith; on feast days, the liturgy and Divine Office readings may give us the subject for this. In time, as a soul grows, the acts of humility, faith, hope, and charity tend to fuse into a gaze of ardent love.
The Life of Prayer
Prayer depends especially on the grace of God, so we prepare for it by humility and purity of intention. Preparation for a life of prayer also depends on mortification so the spirit is detached from created things and from self. And lastly, we must create silence in our souls to hear the interior Master. All of this is called the remote preparation for prayer, which is more important than the immediate preparation (e.g., finding a subject choice in our mediation). To further the preparation, we may choose to dedicate a quarter of an hour in the middle of the morning or afternoon in the midst of our work to offer up to God Who watches us at all times.
In addition to preparation for prayer, one must persevere in it. To persevere, two things are necessary: to have confidence in Christ and to allow ourselves to be led by Him through life where He chooses us to go. The life of prayer is the moral prelude to eternal life.
Conclusion
To better dispose ourselves to receive God’s graces in the Sacraments and in prayer, we should strive day by day to better imitate the virtues of our Blessed Lady and strive to living a perfect life. Let us never be content with our current state but rather, thanking God for where we are now, we should make progress every day in the spiritual life by daily prayer (mental and liturgical) and by the frequent reception of the Sacraments.