Pray Constantly

“Pray constantly” (1Thes 5:17)
 
“I desire then that in every place the men should pray” (1 Tim 2:8)
 
“Beloved, build yourself up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit.”
(Jude 1:20)

In preparation for the Jubilee Year of 2025, Pope Francis has called for a Year of Prayer. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) has a significant section on prayer, and goes into detail on the “Our Father,” the “Lord’s Prayer.” Jesus not only gave us the Our Father, but also gave us the example of praying frequently. The Gospel accounts point to Jesus going off by himself to pray as well as praying publicly before any significant action. Our Deacon tells us that all prayer goes to the Father. Prayer is communication with God. (Remember to pause and LISTEN! God talks back.)

Jesus told them, “... they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” (Lk 18:1)

At a recent meeting of a men’s group in our parish we discussed prayer; when to pray, where to pray, and how to pray. Our discussion took us the concept of “pray always.” How do we do that? First, we need to look at the different ways we pray. Prayer doesn’t always require us to be in church or to be alone or in communion with others, saying well known prayers like the “Our Father,” or even to verbalize our prayer to God. We can pray in silence, meditating on scripture or “standard” prayers (e.g., the Our Father), the role God plays in our lives, the beauty of nature, etc. We can pray by listening to or reading scripture or Catholic literature (e.g., Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. Peter Kreeft, or many others). Learning more about and reenforcing or reinvigorating our faith is another form of prayer, such as reading writings of saints or encyclicals of popes (I particularly recommend St. John Paul II, St. Augustine, Pope Benedict XVI, St. Paul VI, or Pope Leo XIII, although many of the several Pius’s in the past century are also important). Audiobooks are especially useful if you drive long distances or to listen to while walking the dog.

And most importantly, we pray by our actions. Performing acts of charity is engaging in living and visible prayer. Acts of charity show our love for our neighbors thus fulfilling the will of God as Jesus commanded. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:35) As St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta said, “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Charity comes from the heart and, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) notes, “According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays.” (2562) Furthermore, prayer is “communion with Christ and extends throughout the Church, which is his Body.” (CCC 2565) Prayer is one of the ways we invite God into our hearts and our souls. “Whenever you pray, you are submitting to laser surgery on your soul. Prayer is God’s operating room. He’s waiting for your consent to operate.” Dr. Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul, cycle C, p. 158.

The Catechism also reiterates the importance of having in one’s heart the will of the Father. “The prayer of faith consists not only in saying, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but in disposing the heart to do the will of the Father.” (CCC 2611) It also admonishes us to pray with humility. We must emulate the humility of Christ who humbled himself to take on our fragile human form. The Catechism outlines the forms of prayer, noting that they can be traced back to “apostolic and canonical scriptures.” (CCC 2625) These forms are summed up as follows: “blessing (and adoration), petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise.” (CCC 2644)

Prayers don’t have to be lengthy, requiring extensive time and effort to make our connection with the Lord. The simple, “Jesus, I trust in you” from The Divine Mercy, can be said often and at any time. The Catechism mentions the “Jesus Prayer,” “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (CCC 2616) Serving others, in response to God’s call, exemplifies the humility God asks of us in service to Him through our neighbors. Serving (loving) our neighbors provides witness to Jesus and unites us with him and the saints. And, because it is action on behalf of others it might also be considered a prayer of intercession.

The most significant prayer we can employ is the celebration of the Eucharist. “The Eucharist contains and expresses all forms of prayer.” (CCC 2643) We should strive to find opportunities to engage in Eucharistic adoration, as this is not extremely strenuous and has great value. Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen spent an hour each day with the Eucharist. If he was traveling and couldn’t find an open church, he would find where the Blessed Sacrament was housed in a nearby church and spend an hour in his car at the nearest point he could get to. In his guide on “Lent and Easter Wisdom” he summarized the Church’s view this way, “The Church believes that a holy hour spent before the Blessed Sacrament does more good for the well-being of the world than whole days spent in talking about progress to the utter oblivion of the fact that the only true progress consists in the diminution of the traces of original sin; she believes that a penitent returning to God is of far more consequence than the cancellation of war debts; that an increase of sanctifying grace in a soul is of far more value than the increase of international credit; that a group of cloistered nuns in prayer are more effective in preserving world peace than a group of world politicians discussing peace to the forgetfulness of the Prince Of Peace.”

Some of us may wonder as we get older, what can we do as we lose some of our physical abilities. There are still many things we can do that will not overtax us. There are many volunteer opportunities in every parish. We can donate blood (if we meet the minimum physical/health requirements). These acts of charity, offered to the Lord (rather than just our own personal benefit), can be a form of prayer.

The ”Morning Offering” prayer brings this out and is a good way to start the day.

“O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month. Amen.”