Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To grow in appreciation of prayer.
The Idea: Nothing is more natural or necessary for us than prayer. Without prayer man is as a fish out of water. Created by God and for God, we instinctively turn to Him for everything we need: guidance, strength, forgiveness, and grace to reach our heavenly goal. We cannot get along without God. It is the most natural thing in the world, when we are in need, to turn to the one person who can do something about it. Lincoln said: "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go; my own wisdom and that of all around me seemed insufficient for that day."
My Personal Application: Without prayer, man is nothing. St. Theresa and St. Vincent de Paul saw that "without mental prayer one becomes either a brute or a demon."
Without prayer my soul is lifeless. I end up living on the brute animal level, never attaining the high, rich, full life that should be mine as a son of God.
St. Alphonsus said, "Unless by a miracle, without mental prayer we fall in the end into mortal sin."
Prayer is the meeting of hearts, the conversing of two people very much in love. Unless I use this normal means given me to grow in intimate knowledge and love of God, I'll end up loving myself very much - which means that I seek only my own pleasure... and, in the end, find only sin!
I Speak to God: Prayer still seems terrifyingly difficult at times. Yet I know you want me to pray, to talk things over, to grow in familiarity with you. Teach me then to pray, to want to pray, to be at ease with you.
Thought for Today: Nothing is more necessary than prayer.
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
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