False notions of prayer, certain “worldly” attitudes, seasons of spiritual dryness, acedia (or sloth), distraction and lack of faith can all undermine our life of prayer. Seemingly unanswered prayers present yet another difficulty that tempts us to stop praying altogether. However, all is not lost. There are two powerful keys to protect us from, and help us overcome, such challenges: trust and perseverance.
The source of effective prayer
Effective prayer requires faith. Faith is that interior instinct through which God invites us to believe in his Word. Our faith enables us, through the power of the indwelling Spirit, to see beyond the visible into the invisible so that the invisible can be made visible.
Faith makes it possible for the human mind to believe in the truth, which reason cannot comprehend based on the authority of the God who reveals it. It allows us to move past any lack of evidence because we are confident in the one who speaks and acts in history, especially in the supreme act of love that is the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This faith in the love of the Father revealed through the Son is so critical because it is the prayer of Jesus that alone makes Christian prayer efficacious. Jesus prays in us and with us, but he also prays for us. All of our petitions were “gathered up, once for all, in his cry on the Cross and, in his Resurrection, heard by the Father.” (CCC 2741)
This means that if our prayers are intentionally and resolutely united with that of Jesus’ prayer, with childlike trust, we will “obtain all that we ask in his name, even more than any particular thing: the Holy Spirit himself, who contains all gifts.” (2741) Jesus promises us that this kind of prayer ensures that we will be given what we ask for and that we will find what we seek.
Pray unceasingly
James Hitchcock, in his History of the Catholic Church writes, “The ways of the Kingdom are in many respects the reverse of those of human society – triumph emerges only from defeat, suffering is the necessary prerequisite to glory, he who would save his life must lose it, the humble will be exalted, to give is better than to receive.” (p. 24) Immediate self-gratification and self-expansion are simply foreign to the Kingdom. Instead, we are invited to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Christ.
Persistence, then, is critical for the life of prayer, especially when our petitions seem to go unheeded by God. If we hope to grow in our faith and heighten our sensitivity to the movement of the Spirit, we must develop a routine of prayer and stick to it. We must show up to prayer, even more so amidst distraction, dryness, persecution and God’s silence, with a humble and honest heart that pleads with the Father for our needs, but says with Jesus, “not my will, but your will be done.”
THE THREE RESPONSES TO PRAYER
Years ago, the late Father David Link, former dean of the Notre Dame Law School, offered a short reflection on his own experience of prayer as he transitioned from lawyer to priest. “Prayer may be about our needs, but it should never be about our wants. Prayer is an honest conversation in communion with God. It is simply receiving God’s gift of love. The answer to our prayers becomes the life we lead for God as there are only three responses given by God to prayer: ‘Yes,’ ‘Not yet,’ and ‘I have a better idea.’ You will notice that ‘No’ is not one of the options.”
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION
Take a moment to consider your personal prayer habits, keeping in mind these wise words from the Letter of James: “You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (4:3)
Do we take time to think about whether our prayer is acceptable to God?
Are we consumed by a demand to see results?
Do we see God as a kind of cosmic order filler?
Do we ask for what is truly beneficial to us?
