Pray Without Ceasing

-This is a blog entry that I did for my catechism students, and reading it, I thought that it would be beneficial to others, so I decided to post it on this blog too.-

It would seem that so much attention has been paid in recent days to some predictions about the end of the world, and it is at this moment that I would like to remind you all that we need not worry about the end of the world as much as we should worry whether or not we have been living holy and saint like lives.

It is true that every Christian is called to be perfect and imitate Christ, but it would be foolhardy to try to do this by our own power. We must always make an effort to do this in Christ and for Christ, but in order to do this; we must have continual recourse to prayer.

We should always remember that prayer is an intimate dialogue between our soul and God. It is in prayer that we draw close to God and share our inmost thoughts, worries, and concerns, but we must also look at whether or not our conversations with God have been regular or are they just conversations which happen once in a while? We should look at the way we pray and see if we only talk to God when we need something, or do we speak to Him continually.

To be saints, we must strive to be in a continual conversation with Christ and this can be accomplished in a number ways. We should consider the vast opportunities and methods the Church offers us such as our daily prayers; more specifically, morning and evening prayer and grace before and after meals. (CCC 2698) We should take opportunities to participate in the Liturgy of the Hours, which is a way to keep our day sanctified by praying at set times throughout the day, and for those of us at Our Lady Star of the Sea, Lauds (Morning Prayer) and Vespers (Evening Prayer) are offered every day during the week before the Holy Mass. Another great opportunity we possess is being able to participate daily in the highest prayer in the Roman Catholic Church, which is the Holy Mass. It is in Mass that we offer the unbloody sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary in the forms of bread and wine and truly behold Him in our presence. It is the great act of worship and praise that Our Lord commanded us to do in remembrance of Him and it is from this act of worship that we enter more deeply into the mystery of Jesus Christ and get to receive Him into ourselves.

Prayer should be the ascent of our hearts to Christ and considering that we should see if our prayers are often self-serving or do they contain the great acts of prayer which are praise, thanksgiving, adoration, petition and sometimes penance. If our prayers lack these elements, we should strive to perhaps understand the love God and His majesty. Writing to you all now, you may be thinking how do I pray in such a manner as to incorporate the great acts of prayer, and to that I say that we have a most sublime example of this, the Psalms. It is in the Psalms that we see prayers which truly praise God, seek His forgiveness, adore Him, and petition Him. It is there that we can start to improve our prayer life and learn to pray in a more profound way; after all, it is a very good practice to keep our prayers liturgical.

Even if you are the type of person who does not pray the Liturgy of the Hours or the Psalms, the Catholic Church offers such a wealth of prayers that you can not only offer the great acts of prayer, but if you truly meditate upon the words of the prayer, you will find that your understanding of faith and life will increase. By looking at the Our Father, you not only praise God, and ask for forgiveness for your transgressions and those of others, but you also meditate on His greatness and that ultimately we are to subvert our human inclination and desires to the will of God, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

It is in prayer that we draw close to God and learn how to imitate His holy ways. I have written about the rosary in the past and this is a most excellent meditation on the lives of Jesus and Mary and a path to holiness. It is in prayer that we strengthened by God’s grace and allow Him to abide in us; therefore, by praying daily, we will more surely be leading better and better lives, our days will not be filled with regret and when we close the day with an examination of conscience, we will find that over time we will have less and less to be sorry for. By having a prayer life, we will find that we succumb to mortal sin less often and are becoming better people, which means we will have no need for ‘end of the world’ prophecies because we will have come to learn that God can call us at any time and by living holy lives, we have no fear of death because we have loved and served Our Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind. Remember, the world could end tomorrow, but I can die today.

Pray! Pray without ceasing! Let your heart and soul be in constant dialogue with the Lord Our God!