PRAYER

What is prayer?

Prayer can simply mean a loving interaction we have with our GOD, it should be from the heart and it should have good intentions behind it, it should be able to open up the heart of GOD. Prayer does not necessarily mean repetition or use of too many words but it should be said with complete trust and confidence that we truly believe the person we are directing them to is the only one who can provide all we need. 

A family that prays together, stays together.

We need to have complete faith, trust and confidence that he is the sole provider of our lives. Think of a child who after getting frightened or after seeing a snake runs

straight into the hands of the parent for protection as a perfect example of confidence that the parent can help him out, the child believes it is only the parent who can offer him full protection; this is the same confidence we should put in the LORD whenever we pray, that he alone can grant us what we need or the protection we seek for.

Prayer should be coupled with both forgiveness and love, without these two our prayers make no sense and carry no meaning, the prayers do not reach GOD and are never answered if we do not practice love and forgiveness to those who hurt us. It requires a high degree of patience and perfect submission to GOD’s will, He wants us to pray and at the same time maintain the highest level of patience for he provides at his own pace and time so we are required to wait on.

It also requires us to be submissive to GOD’s will, we should pray and allow GOD to act according to His own will and not according to ours; this might be challenging at times because whenever we pray we expect GOD to answer us in the ways that are pleasing to us and then we tend to forget that we are supposed to discern to only his Holy will.

We need to pray to the Holy Spirit to grant us the grace to discern and wait on for the LORD has prepared for us. St. Thomas Aquinas states that, “we do not pray to change divine decree but only to obtain what GOD has decided will be obtained through prayer.”

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

We should aim at choosing GOD before ourselves, He should be the centre and the turning point of our lives then that is when we shall have true peace and prosperity in all that we do.

Prayer is more necessary to the soul than food is to the body because the body can fast and the soul cannot. It is like opening the bottle of perfume so that its fragrance extends throughout the day, the whole day should be perfumed by the morning prayer, therefore, daily prayer is essential, its effects are not only beneficial for the soul but also for the body.

Some people go to pray and do not pray because they do not do their part and simply let themselves be carried away by their mental distractions or sleep; it is like going to eat and not eating and in so doing not taking advantage of the food. Prayer requires attention on our part because a prayer without loving communication with GOD is not a good prayer.

Prayer is love; the more the love, the better the prayer. For this you have to dedicate some time exclusively to pray. GOD stops doing many miracles in the world because many do not have enough faith to ask for miracles.

Prayer is not only for times when in need or when we are going through a crisis, it is the daily food of the soul and therefore it is essential in the spiritual life. Without prayer, our souls become empty and lack light. 

Prayer is a death or life thing, without it, we will be dead inside and let us not forget that it is not only a business of communicating with GOD, it is a loving communication with GOD and without love there will be no true prayer.

The more we pray, the closer we are to Heaven. Whenever you pray, make it real, be like you are traveling a Divine journey to Heaven, like you are depositing money in your bank account that in case you need them they will be of substantial help to you, it is these prayers that will buy us heaven.

SOME QUOTES ON PRAYER

📍“There is no difference between prayer and love, we cannot say that we pray but that we do not love or that we love without the need to pray because there is not a prayer without and no love without prayer” St. Theresa of Calcutta.

📍“Prayer is about a friendship, often being alone with who we know loves us, it is not to think a lot but love a lot and thus what will most awaken you to love, do that. The use of the soul is not thinking a lot about loving a lot” St. Terese of Avila.

📍 "Pray like your entire life depended on prayer alone." Boni Acaca 

📍"If men knew the significance of one single prayer, they would spend each second of their lives in prayer." Boni Acaca 

📍"Prayer is like oxygen to the soul and without prayer our souls are dead just like without oxygen our bodies are dead." Boni Acaca 

📍 "Without prayer we can do nothing." Boni Acaca 

📍"Teach your children how to pray before you teach them how to play video games." Boni Acaca 

📍"You cannot live in this world and not pray." Boni Acaca 

📍"LORD, if my mouth cannot say it often, my heart will continuously resound the “I love you so much” phrase each second of my life." Boni Acaca 

📍"Pray without ceasing, be patient in prayer, persevere in prayer and have persistence while

you pray." Boni Acaca 

Without love, prayer can be reduced to an empty repetition of words from memory. True prayer must be filled with love for GOD, it must be a loving communication with Him. To do this, you don’t necessarily need to talk, you can love with or without words hence one of the most sublime ways of prayer is contemplative prayer in which one soul remains like in ecstasy, contemplating GOD and feeling his love. It is like a wave of love that envelopes the soul and leaves it speechless, responding with a silent love; it is a loving silence or silent love.

We can use the bible scriptures while praying most especially from the book of the Psalms and as well pray using the different prayers of the church such as the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory be, the Rosary and several other prayers.

St. Padre Pio encourages us to pray, keep being hopeful and never to worry. For whenever we pray and make our requests known to our loving Lord then the fight ceases to be ours, we simply let Him to work according to His own will.

May we learn to fully trust God to provide to us all that we ask from Him or even more.