Should I recite, or toss, formula prayers?

From time to time we've all received via email or some other method, an invitation to recite or pray a "prayer that never fails"...Sometimes there are items in the vestibule of a church which make similar claims? What do you do with these?

From the "Dear Father" section of the St Louis Review. some sound advice:

Prayer is a good thing, but when you subscribe to these prayers that are guaranteed "to never fail" you are turning prayer into a magical formula bordering on superstition. Such prayers also do not represent the best understanding of just what intercession is all about.

There are two ways we can approach prayer. One is as a communication of love and trust and the other is as a business transaction. If our prayer is authentic, we are opening ourselves to God’s will and trusting Him to answer us. The problem is when we pray these prayers that are guaranteed "never to fail" we are trying to manipulate God.

In that God always answers our prayers in one way or another, there is truth in the claim that authentic prayer is guaranteed "never to fail." God answers all our prayers but sometimes, His answer is "no."

I really question prayers that require publication, strict formulas, mathematics or circulation because it represents an impoverished approach to the spiritual life.

We should never approach prayer as if it is conducting a business transaction with God.

St. Francis de Sales tells us:

"Do not distress yourself about your prayers. It is not always necessary to employ words, even inwardly. It is enough to raise your heart and let it rest in our Lord, to look lovingly upward toward this divine lover of our souls, for between lovers the eyes speak more eloquently than the tongue."

Father Lombardi, a priest of the Missionaries of the Holy Family is associate pastor of St. Wenceslaus Parish in South St. Louis.
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