Expectancy
An out-of-focus Christianity will likewise distort our prayer life. Without a close relationship with Jesus as a person, our prayer will be nothing more than a long-distance phone call to heaven. Only with an awareness of Jesus’ personal and very real presence can we ever get a feel for the Father’s awesome goodness and intimate love, for no one goes to the Father except through Jesus (see John 14:6).
Jesus promised his disciples that his resurrection would bring a radical change in their thinking; the truth of God’s ongoing personal presence would become a meaningful reality for them, a “realized” experience: “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (Jn 14:20). This very realization is itself in a state of profound prayer. In this state, praying becomes a communing with the Lord as an intimate friend. It is a never-boring, joyful, delightfully exciting sharing with the one who said, “ I no longer call you servants…I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (Jn 15:15).
This excerpt is from the book The Art of Loving God by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications, 1995. This and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.