THE MYSTERIES OF PRAYER

 

A prayer should be uttered with profound awareness of each word. The reasons for this lie not only in the fact that otherwise it would be irreverent toward the One to whom it is addressed, but also in what follows. True prayer, the true message of prayer, consists not only in the words themselves, but primarily in the attitude of the heart, in that which, from the heart, draws us toward God.

If a prayer is uttered with deep awareness, lived deeply, you could consider it as if "receptors" were opened in the soul: channels that make the soul receptive to the power of God. The soul truly perceives the meaning hidden behind the words spoken. With this, a desire for fulfillment is born in the soul, a desire to bring the spoken words to life, and the soul reacts like a flower yearning for sunlight: it opens completely.

For this reason, the soul that prays deeply and consciously can begin to feel united with God.  In it, everything is a yearning for the heavenly, and divine light pours forth completely into that soul. This effect will never be experienced by a soul that prays quickly and without feeling, mechanically or automatically.

This phenomenon also explains why a soul called to it can experience states of true ecstasy during meditative and contemplative prayer: The soul's desires can become so identical with God's desires that the soul flows completely into Us, and thus begins to partake of the perfect peace of heart that is characteristic of the heart of God.

Peace of heart is fundamentally characterized by the flow of God's will into the soul. To attain this peace, the soul must, as a first step, desire unity with God (and with His Blessed Mother) and strive to let go of all worldly perceptions. For this reason, the soul must know how to empty itself in order to arrive at fruitful prayer.

This circumstance is also the reason why holy souls receive certain impressive answers to their prayers, whether directed to God or to the Blessed Virgin. They know how to synchronize themselves so completely with the heart of God and with the heart of the Mother that both can cause torrents of grace to flow into those souls without any impediment.

We might be tempted to buy food because it comes in a can with a particularly attractive label. However, we might ask ourselves: Does the contents of the can taste better (or is its nutritional value greater) because the label is more attractive?

Essentially, it is an offense to God when the soul speaks to Him with empty words. Empty words are those in which the heart is not truly involved. It is not the words of our lips, but the feelings of our heart that express our desire to come into contact with God.  If our hearts are empty of yearning love, our kind words will seem more like an attempt to deceive God regarding our love for Him.

However, we cannot muster the same fervor in prayer every day, but what truly matters is the desire and, in any case, the effort to genuinely penetrate the heart of God.