Pray Always

“... he told them ... they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” (Lk 18:1) “Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.” (Eph 6:18) “... Pray constantly.” (1 Thess 5:21)

We begin and end mass with the Sign of the Cross, one of the first prayers we Catholics learn. It is so routine that many don’t think of it as a prayer. But it is, and it joins what we are about to do, whether it’s mass, praying, or some other endeavor (for example, a meeting of the Knights of Columbus, or the Men of St. Joseph, Mystagogy, or the Men’s breakfast) with the Holy Trinity. We make the sign of the cross when we enter the Church. It is one of the simplest ways to help ourselves fulfill Jesus’s and St. Paul’s admonition to “Pray Always.”

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.

“... humility is the foundation of prayer.” (CCC 2559). And the mass is the great prayer we participate in together. During the presentation of the gifts, when the priest or deacon adds a small amount of water to the wine, he says, “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” And after elevating the wine as an offering to God and before washing his hands the priest says quietly, “With humble spirit and contrite heart may we be accepted by you, O Lord, and may our sacrifice in your sight this day be pleasing to you, Lord God.”

“... the grace of the Holy Spirit seeks always the humble heart.” Thomas a’ Kempis, Imitation of Christ

And finally, prayer acknowledges what God told Job, and what Dr. Peter Kreeft said in his book, Food for the Soul, Cycle C (commentaries on Sunday mass readings, cycle C), “God has to keep reminding us of the two most obvious truths in the world: that we are not him, and that he is not us.”