Men and Women of Prayer

Every Christian should be a man or woman of prayer. Whatever parish group, movement or congregation we belong to, whatever our position within the Church, we all have a duty to pray. All the saints were men and women of prayer. Jesus himself, the Son of God, would spend whole nights withdrawing to be alone and speak to his Father. If the world is as negative as it is today, it is because there is a great lack of true men and women of prayer. Here we are not referring to those who merely recite certain prayers, but to people whose whole life is a prayer. Unfortunately, many Christians do not feel particularly concerned by this issue. For them, prayer no longer holds much value. It is enough simply to be active. Some claim that their work is a form of prayer. Others say they do not know how to pray, so what is the point? Still others say that prayer is not worthwhile for them: they pray and do not receive what they ask for. So they give up on prayer. There are also those who object that prayer is an escape from the realities of the world. Finally, there are those who claim to lack time. They can find time for everything except for God, except for prayer. Thus, we are like a child to whom we give a piece of bread. And when we ask them to give us a small piece of it, they refuse, forgetting that they received that piece of bread from us for free. God is the master of time and the master of our lives. Yet we often refuse to give him a little of our time.

No one can claim to serve God without leading a life of prayer. Imagine for a moment that you have a child at home. In the morning, they get up and do their chores, but they don’t speak a word to you. How would you feel? That is exactly what we often do to God. We are caught up in many activities: sometimes even religious ones. First thing in the morning: ‘Ah! I’ve got to go to school, I’ve got to study, I’ve got to go shopping, I’ve got to visit so-and-so, and even in the evening I’ve got to go to choir practice, and so on.’ But have you spoken to your Father in heaven? Have you laid this schedule before Him? Have you listened to what He has said to you about it? Sometimes we do all sorts of things thinking we’re pleasing God. But in fact, we’re not pleasing Him. Sometimes we go to fetch Him a drink of water, when what He really wants is for us to clean His house. We don’t listen, and so we face many failures and disappointments in our lives. The tragedy of the Church today is that many Christians no longer pray enough. There is too much activism. Even young people no longer pray enough, even though Jesus cherishes the prayers of young people and children so much. Fortunately, there are some who are striving to live out their vocation. I know many young people who inspire me when it comes to prayer and who, at the same time, excel at school.

 Indira Gandhi used to say that ‘one can fast for the body, but one cannot fast for the soul’. If one does, the soul grows weak. ‘Apart from me, you can do nothing’ (Jn 15:5). We cannot do without prayer and lead a normal Christian life, for we wither away. Personally, when I do not pray, I feel as though I am ill. I feel suffocated and I seek God as ‘a deer longs for running water’ (Ps 42:2). God created us to commune and converse with him (Second Vatican Council). Anyone who does not pray, therefore, is not even a true human being. They are like an animal, for an animal does not even make the sign of the cross before falling asleep.

Furthermore, other people may consider themselves experts on prayer. They might say to themselves: ‘I’ve been praying for a long time. I’ve already read dozens of books and listened to dozens of sermons on prayer.’ With such thoughts, one is no longer open to growing in prayer. We pray to know God and to love him. Yet we will always have room for improvement. ‘For at present our knowledge is partial’ (1 Cor 13:12). This calls on us all to keep making fresh progress in prayer, to be ready to do even just one small new thing to grow in prayer or to start afresh with a better prayer life. I encountered God in a special way when I was 20; it took me years to learn to pray, and I am still no master at it. To learn to pray, you need to be at the right school. Many Christians have prayer books which they read and pray from throughout the day. That is very good, but it is not enough. Saint Paul tells us that when we are young, we feed on milk, but once we are grown up, we feed on solid food. When a child learns to speak, we make them repeat words and, later on, we let them say what they think for themselves. That is how prayer works. Perhaps we used written prayers at the beginning; now we must also (in addition) formulate our own prayers. To say what we think. Otherwise, we risk simply reading aloud or repeating words without truly praying. If we learn to speak with God heart to heart, it will then be very beneficial for us to say the Rosary and to offer other spoken or communal prayers.

The second misconception about prayer is the belief that praying means asking for something. This is why many people only pray when they have problems. They make so many promises to God. But once the problem is solved, they forget about Him and neglect Him. They even forget what they had promised to do for Him. It is true that Jesus tells us to ask so that we may receive, but prayer is not merely about asking. Let us therefore make a much greater effort to carve out time in our busy schedules so that we may grow in prayer. Major retreats are a time of intense prayer. Let us take part in these retreats so that we may grow in our communion with God.

Henri Bayemi