Take time to pray

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

This was from a homily given by Bishop Robert Barron during the World Youth Day held in Portugal back in 2023.

First, what is the definition of prayer? St. John of Damascus in the eighth century said to pray is to raise the mind and heart to God. We know that our minds and hearts can get preoccupied with many things of this life, but in the time of prayer we set those faculties of ours exclusively for God. Fr. Thomas Merton, a famous American Trappist monk and mystic, once said in an analogy about prayer that God is like a helicopter wanting to land in our hearts. But the problem is there is so much debris and trash on the landing ground that the helicopter could not land. We need to clear that debris first which pertains to the attachments of the heart we have to things of this world that could distract us in our prayer or conversation with God. God wants to come into our lives and prayer is opening the door for Christ to enter. Fr. Paul Murray (a friend of Bishop Barron) said, “Prayer is easy much like breathing because we are born to pray.” Or God designed us to be in a relationship with Him.

The following are three points to grow in our prayer life.

Take the time

When Fr. Thomas Merton was asked, “What’s the best thing I can do to improve my prayer life?” His answer was, “Take the time.” It’s a good, clear, simple, direct and effective recommendation, to take the time, to reserve time to pray every day. Friendship is developed through conversation. If you say, “That guy over there is my best friend,” and you are asked, “How often do you chat with him?” and you reply, “Once a month,” then that guy is not your best friend. God is supposed to be our best friend, and if we just pray once a week or when we go to Sunday Mass, then there is no real friendship with Him. Bishop Barron is a morning fellow; he prefers to pray in the morning or before he engages with his duties as a bishop the rest of the day. You and I might be afternoon guys who are more active in the afternoon. It does not matter what time we pray as long as we pray every day, when we feel like it, or when we don’t. When we are in a mood to pray, and when we are not. Our Lord is more pleased especially when we exert the effort to converse with Him, when we could have just watched Netflix or gone to social media. And we can pray anywhere, in the privacy of our homes, even in the car when we are stuck in traffic — so that instead of banging the dashboard in frustration for getting stuck, perhaps the Lord is inviting you to offer that annoyance of yours and talk to Him.

To find the center

Many spiritual masters would say that to pray is to find the center in our lives. Our lives are complicated because so many things are begging for our attention. Our work schedule, family concerns, etc. Our minds tend to jump around from one thought or concern to another. Buddhists call it the “monkey mind” jumping from one branch of a tree to another. We are like Martha in the Gospel episode of St. Luke (Lk 10:38-42) who was told by our Lord Jesus when she complained that her sister was not helping her with the food preparation, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part, which shall not be taken away from her.” The one thing necessary that Mary was doing was listening to our Lord talking and conversing with Him, which is what prayer is. The reason why our lives are not at peace is because we have not found that center. When we center our lives in Christ through prayer, all our worries and anxieties will gradually cease because Christ will help us put them into perspective.

Silence

Pope Francis says we are a generation that is loud and noisy. We are bombarded with all sorts of voices both natural and artificial from people around us and from our gadgets. Silence is needed in our lives to calm us down and to be able to hear what God is speaking to us. To pray is to find that silent place where God speaks. St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, “The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace.” Peace, that one thing our hearts long for, will only be attained when we regularly pray.