The Most Mind-blowing Truth about Prayer

There are things you know and there are things you know.

Some of the best talks I’ve heard on spiritual matters are reinforcements of things I’ve heard before. It’s funny how we humans need to hear and re-hear things in order to let them sink deep into our hearts.

It reminds me of how the word “knew” in the Bible often refers not just to an intellectual knowledge, but to an intimate knowledge (i.e. referring to the act of marriage- Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain).

Anyways, here is something that I know, but I need to know.

God made me for deep intimacy with him. He made me to be a saint, which means to be made perfect in charity through his grace.

And here is something I really need to know. There is only one path to realizing this in my life and it is to spend time with him. The path to sainthood is a path of prayer.

The good news: prayer is not rocket science. It is not the practice of the brilliant, but the normal.

Prayer is not rocket science. It is not the practice of the brilliant, but the normal.

Fr. Jacques Philippe says in Time for God:

“The essential act of prayer, after all, is to place ourselves in God’s presence and stay there.”

He goes on later to emphasize:

“If our prayer consists of nothing more than that- holding ourselves before God without doing anything or thinking anything special, without any particular feelings, but with a heartfelt attitude of availability and trusting abandonment- then we could not do any better."

Isn’t that mind-blowing?

I’ve written before on the analogy of athletics and the pursuit of sanctity. But it should be emphasized that while some people can reach the pinnacle of athletic greatness, all can reach the heights of sanctity.

Because that’s what we’ve been made for.

Do you want to be a saint? Are you emboldened to hear that what is most required is to simply be with God?

If you’ve made this resolution before, to pray regularly, and struggled to keep it, I want to recommend something that may help.

I downloaded a free app called CommitTo3. It encourages you to focus on 3 specific commitments each day, and it sends you reminders if your day passes and you haven't checked any off.

My CommitTo3 has the following practices that I have tried to employ everyday, but sometimes get away from me. They are:

1) Mental prayer (which I try to do for 30 minutes, but you could start with even 15)
2) Pray Rosary
3) Daily Examination

In addition to having the reminders, choose a good time for each in your calendar. If you miss it you can make it up later, but its nice to get a good routine or habit going.

Another funny hack is to start a timer when you’ve started praying. Set it to go off after 15 minutes and then you’ll know, regardless of “quality” of prayer, that you’ve spent that time with God.

Know this: God knows us. We need to spend time with him to know him. As we bask in the grace of Easter, let’s commit to this more than ever. 

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