As we pray

The 30th and 31st Sunday Mass readings in Ordinary Time (Cycle C) guide the faithful to a more intimate relationship with God through prayer. As we pray, do we recall this time as a gift from God? Do we embrace this time to deepen our relationship with God? The upcoming Sunday Gospel readings steer us to consider our posture, motivation and attitude. 

A gift

How is prayer a gift? “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God. But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or ‘out of the depths’ of a humble and contrite heart?” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2559). Prayer is movement within a person inspired by something unseen to the naked eye yet known in the mind’s eye. As we pray, we talk to God.  As often as we pray, we come to know our father. As with our relationships, the more we talk, the more personal we become.

Our faith has a direct correlation with prayer. The depth of faith determines the width of prayer. The deeper the faith, rooted in hope and love, the far-reaching is the prayer. With faith comes the hope that God hears our prayer, as the “prayers of the lowly reach the clouds” (Sir 35:20). For from their depths, they reach up to God in a posture of surrender, humility and meekness. For when we pray, we bow. And the “Lord hears the cry of the poor” (Ps 34). The gift of prayer is believing that God listens to our prayer with abundant mercy, sparing all things because he is the lover of souls (Wisdom 11:24-26). 

Posture

Sit, stand, kneel. These positions are quite familiar, especially during the celebration of the Mass. Each is a prayer posture. Each powerful. Each is enlightened by motivation and attitude influenced by the mind and heart. Sitting is responsive, a dialogue, as if one sits with a friend. It can also be a receptive mode, an openness to stillness. Standing denotes honor, respect and worthy of praise. One is lifted in prayer. Kneeling is humility, reverence, and surrender. Pope Emeritus Benedict writes, “the man who learns to believe learns also to kneel, and a faith or a liturgy no longer familiar with kneeling would be sick at the core … kneeling must be rediscovered, so that, in our prayer, we remain in fellowship with the apostles and martyrs, indeed in union with Jesus Christ himself.”

Motivation 

St. Augustine once said, “If we wish to lead a good life, and to save our souls, we must learn to pray. He who knows how to live well knows how to pray well.” How does one pray well? What motivates prayer? What is one’s attitude in prayer? We can learn much from St. Paul’s writings in his Second Letter to Timothy. Facing imprisonment, St. Paul recalls his life, compared to a race, as he sees the approaching “finish line.” This final letter to Timothy is one of hope, as St. Paul describes how God provided the grace for St. Paul to endure suffering for the sake of the Gospel. St. Paul’s prayer glorifies the greatness of God. Likewise, St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians (2 Thes 1:11-2:2) provides courage to defeat the temptations of evil and doubt. Both instances manifest the motivation held by St. Paul to give thanks, praise and honor to God, as well as petition for the faithful. 

Attitude (Lk 18:9-14)

What is attitude of the heart during prayer? Again recall that the catechism states, “But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will or out of the depths of a humble and contrite heart?” The parable of the pharisee and the tax collector from the Gospel of St. Luke shows pride versus humility. The lofty pharisee enters the temple, offers prayers which are centered more on a “how great I am” rather than “how great thou art” as he points out the sins of others and self-righteously invokes his goodness. This lifting of the self is in direct opposition to the tax collector,  who is praying in the same temple at the same time the pharisee is praying, yet with an entirely different posture. He stands in the distance, eyes lowered, aware of his sinfulness, humbles himself before God and, like St. Paul, pours himself out to God. The tax collector seeks mercy. The pharisee seeks self-worth.

The fruit of prayer (Lk 19:1-10)

Further, we see the witness of Zacchaeus, a wealthy tax collector, who desires to meet Jesus. He wants to see who Jesus is, face to face. Despite his lofty status, he is short in stature and must climb up a tree to see Jesus. Zacchaeus’ enthusiasm gets the attention of the Lord, who calls him down from the height of the tree, the height of the loftiness to stand before the Lord in awe, amazement and utter humility. He cries out, repents for his sins, namely extortion, receives God’s mercy and makes reparation as he gives away that which kept him prideful. His restlessness turns into peace.  The Lord heard the cry of the poor, humble sinner. “Humility is the foundation of prayer, and only when we humbly acknowledge that ‘we do not know how to pray as we ought,’ are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. Man is a beggar before God.” (Catechism #2559)

Through the gift of prayer, may we gratefully come to know God, as we kneel at the foot of the cross and gaze upon the act of perfect prayer and humility, our Lord, Jesus, who emptied himself in order for us to share in his most precious gift, new life. Amen.

Author’s note: A friend introduced me to the “Litany of Humility” prayer a few years ago.  Here is a link to download a copy. ascensionpress.com/pages/litany-of-humility.

Dow is the director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Baton Rouge.