The Value of Prayer

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 32, 26 August 1925, Page 19

The Value of Prayer

| “Prayer >is ■ the simplest form of speech, ; That infant lips can try; *4Prayer,^- the sublimes! v strains that reach > ■ 4c • x TT* T. >) • ' : . The Majesty on High.” ■ ' Montgomery. f •. ... • \ -v •■■■•' - , . . ■ . .■ .■ ■ -v St. Ambrose describes prayer as a : wing r upon which 6iy: soul flies to Heaven, . and - ' it i• i ~&*f* W! meditation the eye by which we see God. When man prays he unleashes the carrier pigeon, to take his message of obedience and .homage to God, and to return laden with ' - 'S’- 0 S 9 *ll Heaven’s choicest gifts. Prayer, especially the Our Father, is faith breathed into human words, hope winging its flight to Heaven, love piercing the heart of God. As the bell summons men to work, even so prayer calls God to our assistance. Praying therefore is ringing the great bell in the ear of God. So much of our lives is heavenly and sublime as we spend in humble, earnest, intimate converse with God. v By word and example Our Lord has commanded and taught us to pray without ceasing. v Many, saints, too, after a hard day’s toil, have spent the night thinking of God and speaking with Him. * Prayer satisfies man’s deepest cravings for sympathetic companionship with God, into Whose presence it ushers us, Whose calm, soothing influence it sheds about us, Whose strong and steady hand it extends to us. Prayer, especially when combined with the reception of the Sacraments, is the very lungs by which the Christian - breathes out the poison of sin and temptation, and breathes in the fresh and pure air of God’s grace and holiness. Hence Bunyan uttered a profound truth when he said that prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. - The poet Montgomery voices the; same kbeautiful thought: kkVJ- . ; ■ * ? [ k -’- k “Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath, The Christian’s native air, His watchword at the gates of death; h\' He enters heaven by prayer. \“Prayer is the contrite sinner’s voire Returning from his ways; ’ ; While angels in their songs rejoice, £< And say, 1 Behold, he prays 1’ ” Power ! of Prayer. | Sister Theresa makes use of a still more powerful comparison: She says that the scientist Archimedes asked for a fulcrum and lever and promised to move the earth, but what the scientist could not obtain, this the Saints did obtain in prayer. The Almighty has given them a fulcrum to lean upon, Himself. He has given them also a lever, prayer. And thus the Saints have by the lever of prayer leaned upon the fulcrum, namely God, and uplifted the world and will continue to the end of time “to : uplift the world and themselves by the great & lever of prayer.” ••• V; No wonder that “Satan trembles when he \ viees the weakest Saint upon his knees” \ An v :JCowper). I'' 1 '' • . - "

Prayer is a spiritual well,- whence we draw the refreshing waters of ; God’s mercy and forgiveness. It is a gold mine enriching the persevering digger with the ore of God’s love and grace. “Prayer moves the hand which moves the world” (Wallace). Prayer is not conquering God’s reluctance, but it is taking hold of God’s willingness to help us. Since prayer is so powerful and God so willing to aid His children, is it not sheer perversion on our part to be so indifferent and neglectful in our daily orisons, so cold and heartless toward the God of goodness and love? Necessity of Prayer. God helps us to pray because He is our Father and knows our needs. He demands that we realise our need of Him. Theologians, consulting Holy Scripture, tradition, and reason, are unanimous in 'caching that prayer, for all having attained the age and the use of reason, is an ordinary means of salvation, without which man cannot be saved. It is as necessary for all as penance is for the mortal sinner. In fact, the virtue of penance or contrition is a prayer. The Sacrament of Penance cannot be received without prayer. Sometimes, that is in case of necessity, perfect contrition, based on the love of God for His sake, serves as an - effective substitute for sacramental confession, sometimes the . bap tims of desire, that is the good will to serve God as best one knows, acts as a substitute for the baptism of water but, by the very nature of the case there can be no substitute for prayer. - All men can and, if they desire to save their soul, must pray. Humble and earnest prayer ingratiates us with God, the giver of every good gift. • V Prayer was President Lincoln’s spiritual source of greatness. He says: “Many times have I been drawn to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day.” When President ho remarked: “Without God’s guidance and help I cannot succeed. With His help I cannot fail.” When he received the news of Grant’s victory and Lee’s surrender, he humbly bade his cabinet to thank God. Not only religious men pray, and thereby prove that prayer is a demand of the mind and heart; but even the irreligious man, by his action in solemn moments, proves it. When need stares, him gaunt in the face, when calamity hangs on a thread over his misery and wretchedness, when grim death makes his inexorable call, then he . knows how to pray, he realises the necessity of prayer. Fear is not the cause but the providential occasion of his coming to himself and realising his absolute dependence on God.' ••C Natural Instinct. * Voltaire, the prince of atheists, whose meat and drink was to hate God and revile ■ the Church, who in life Wrote and acted as

though he was doing God a 1 favor by ; denying His existence and waging war ron all that : is good? and hoi/, even he was forced by his nctural instinct to pray. - vv When the supreme moment of death was fast approaching, he , could • no. longer deceive;; himself. Yes. even he, prodd as he was and as wicked, was compelled to acknowledge his ■ ■ • .. r • ..1T..-.-.-.."*.' need of God... But, alas, when he bade his ,a.. ; I , . ■■■ / ■■■■ ’ ■ . - -v. booh companions to fetch . him a priest, they t mocked and derided the disillusioned wretch, refusing him the consoling prayers of the priest and the divine strength of the Sacraments. Voltaire’s only hope lay in prayer prayer for true conversion, ’ and in perfect contrition. He died with;the devil’s prayer on his lips, the prayer to which he was accustomed’ in life, that of cursing' man .and' of blaspheming God. . 1 Voltaire, as does every man, needed God. God had no need of him. . f | In March, 1913, the Titanic, the vaunted • vi . * ■ „. js ■ • . pride of human ingenuity, was sailing peace* fully across the Atlantic. The liner suddenly crashed into a huge iceberg. The “invulnerable” was wounded to death and . Jr': soon began to sink. Then it .was that the god of pleasure ceased to attract the dancers and merrymakers and the God of Heaven: and earth inculcated the necessity of prayer. Men, women, and children, many of whom never knew what it meant to pray, got down on their knees to beg God’s mercy' and adore His providence,; At such moments man ! acts. naturally.; He does the right thing. .He prays, as a creature to his Creator. Yes, prayer is as necessary to the soul as air for the lungs, as food and drink for the stomach, as rest and sleep for the nerves and brain. The soul by its very nature hungers and thirsts after God. In this life prayer is the most available means,of satisfying our divine hunger and thirst and of obtaining ; eternal rest. , , ; | Let us always have recourse to God' in prayer. How rarely can man help us in dire’ need? Trouble and \ perplexity drive to prayer but prayer drives away trouble and perplexity, by making us , rely calmly and confidently on God. Messenger of Precious Blood . / T \