A Sunday Thought About Simple Prayer

Last Sunday we posted a "call to arms." If you didn't see it, it's worth checking out. If you did, it's the sort of message that can be reviewed over and over again with great benefit.

This Sunday we'll tone things down, compared to last Sunday. A good Abbot will help us understand simple prayer today. It's something he recommended heartily during his tenure on this earth. His recommendation hit home recently.

A couple of weeks ago, we attended Mass on a hot, humid day. There was no air conditioning. While not stifling, it was stuffy enough and warm enough to distract attention. It was harder than usual to focus on my thoughts and prayers during Mass.

Sometimes - really quite frequently for some of us - distraction always accompanies our prayer, our meditation. It's normal. I've read where such distractions will likely accompany us to our grave, not matter how much progress we make in our spiritual life. I think St. Josemaria Escriva noted this, but I'm not sure.

Perhaps one way to deal with distraction is to keep our prayer simple. Sometimes we can get tangled up in some complicate prayer formula and find ourselves in a place only God knows. Or perhaps in moments of silent meditation, we strain at trying to "explain" things to God. Maybe it's something bothering us, or a special intention, or some elaborate thanksgiving for a special favor we believe was granted just when we needed it. Of course, God knows everything we're trying to say before we say it. 

Not that there's anything wrong with trying to express ourselves, of course. But if our efforts generate impatience with ourselves or anxiety that we're not saying exactly what we wanted to say, that's probably not a good thing. Anything that detracts from the calmness and peace that should reign in our souls can't be a good thing.

That's where our good Abbot rides to the rescue. We've seen him before - Abbot John Chapman, O.S.B. (1865-1933). He wrote much that can be a help to us in our struggle for holiness. And he wrote in a manner that's not only easy to understand, but easy for us to apply our understanding. It's a good combination.

Notice how he describes a "good" prayer. There's a simplicity that any soul can easily grasp and apply. We don't need a degree in theology, or have extensively read the Bible, or memorized the tenets of our Catholic Religion. All of those are good, of course. But they're not necessary for sincere and effective prayer.

Let's let Abbot Chapman explain:

A Good Prayer

“Possibly the best kind of prayer is when we seem unable to do anything, if then, we throw ourselves on God, and stay contentedly before Him; worried, anxious, tired, listless, but – above all and under it all – humbled and abandoned to His will, contented with our own discontent. If we can get ourselves accustomed to this attitude of soul, which is always possible, we have learned how to pray. We are never afraid of prayer and we can pray for any length of time – the longer the better, and at any time.” 

A Sign Of A Good Prayer

“I think you will find that the more time you can reasonably give to being alone with God, the easier it becomes to enjoy it (I don’t mean pleasure, but the feeling that it is worth doing – that you are not simply lazy and wasting time). The test is not whether you feel anything at the time, but whatever afterwards you feel (quite illogically) better and more determined to serve God. The one thing you should gain by quiet prayer (just remaining with God, and making a number of aspirations to keep your imagination from wandering) is to feel the rest of the day that you want God’s will and nothing else.”

Simple prayer overcomes obstacles to our prayer life. As such, it will help us make progress in our spiritual life. The very simplicity of it all means we will spend "quality" time with God, without having to feel like we need to construct some sort of "program" of prayer, or block out time that, given our busy lives, we really don't have if we're to perform the duties of our state of life properly.

Happy Sunday!