CHAPTER 2: MENTAL PRAYER
St. Mark gives us the schedule of one day in the life of our Lord, which begins with his morning prayer: “And rising up long before daybreak, he went out and departed into a desert place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35). We know our Lord prayed, sometimes at length. He sought the peace
of the mountainside, where he spent hours alone with his heavenly Father. He spent an entire night in prayer before he chose his apostles. He prayed surrounded by people who were awaiting a miracle in order to believe. He prayed at length and intensely in the garden and poignantly on the cross. Indeed, the gospels contain many episodes of prayer in the life of Jesus Christ.
He also encouraged his apostles to pray. Sometimes he used parables to teach them the importance of prayer: “And he also told them a parable that they must always pray and not lose heart saying, ‘There was a judge in a certain town’” (Luke 18:1). He exhorted them: “Pray, that you may not enter into temptation. . . . Rise and pray” (Luke 22:40, 46). On another occasion he taught them of the efficacy of prayer: “Ask, and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find. . . . If you, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:7, 11).
The Lord even taught the apostles a prayer, the Our Father (Luke 11:2- 4), and he told them how they should pray: When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues and at the street corners, in order that they may be seen by men. . . . But when you pray, go into your room, and closing the door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. Do not multiply words, as the Gentiles do . . . for your Father knows what you need before you ask him (Matthew 6:5–8). A PLAN OF LIFE 6 HELPING YOU FIND GOD WHEREVER YOU ARE
To pray must be something great then, for our Lord himself prays and openly encourages others to do so. St. Josemaria offers the following thoughts on the object and purpose of prayer: You wrote to me: “To pray is to talk to God. But about what?” About what? About him, and yourself: joys, sorrows, successes and failures, great ambitions, daily worries — even your weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions — and love and reparation. In short, to get to know him and to get to know yourself — “to get acquainted!”
We pray in order to hear him, and so that he will enlighten our minds and hearts.
Prayer is a very filial norm. It is the dialogue of a child of God with his Father in heaven; with Jesus Christ, our older Brother; with the Blessed Virgin, our Mother; with our guardian angel and the saints, our entire family in heaven. Sometimes we will need to rise early, just as the Lord did. It is necessary to organize ourselves well in order to find the best time to pray. Excuses may come easily — “I don’t have time,” “I don’t know how,” “they don’t hear me” – but we should recognize their falsity. When we are fully convinced that we need something or someone, when we really want to, we can always find time. For Christians, God is always someone important whom we cannot forget, lest we diminish the value of our lives and render them sterile.
Just as it is impossible to live without breathing, it is impossible to become a saint without praying. Each new day must be used well. As St. Josemaria has noted: “God does not lose battles, and if we are united to him, we will never be overcome. On the contrary, we can call ourselves victors and indeed be victors: good children of God.” Each morning we must raise our hands as Moses did. Today’s battles require the help of prayer. In order to work well we need our hands and our head; moreover, in order to sanctify our work we Christians also raise our hearts to God.
Many people find it helpful to set aside two periods each day for mental prayer: a period in the morning, when it is often easier to find some extra time just by getting up a bit earlier, and another period in the late afternoon, after work but before beginning the activities of the evening. For some this time of prayer may be during the commute to and from work. For others it might be combined with a visit to the Blessed Sacrament at the parish church A PLAN OF LIFE 7 HELPING YOU FIND GOD WHEREVER YOU ARE or another one we pass by regularly. Prayer before our Lord in the tabernacle is ideal, if it can be arranged, but praying in any setting is always preferable to not praying at all.
Some people find it helpful to read a short section of the New Testament or some other book of spiritual writing in order to stimulate prayer. In addition to the gospels, books to aid meditation include The Imitation of Christ and St. Josemaria’s The Way, Furrow, and The Forge. Others find it very helpful, before beginning prayer, to select a topic or theme to focus on, such as the life of Christ, our Christian vocation, the apostolate, our Lady, family life, or our work.