Legion of Mary Detroit, Michigan Regia

Prayers

Legion of Mary | Our Lady, Spouse of the Holy Spirit

The Detroit Michigan Regia, United States of America

Prayers

Prayers

Prayer

Prayer

Prayer is extremely simple: communication with God, conversation with God, com-

muning with God. The most important thing about prayer is not how we do it but that

we do it. The single most important answer to the question How to pray? is "Begin!"

"Just do it." We learn to do it by doing it, not by merely reading or thinking about it.

One simply cannot be a Christian without prayer, any more than one can be a

Christian without faith or good works. What communication is to our marriage

relationship with our spouse, prayer is to our re-

lationship with God. If we say we love God but

do not pray, we lie. For love is intimacy and

intimacy is communication, and communication

with God is prayer.

Prayer is preparation for heaven, as courtship is

preparation for marriage. If Christ had to define

eternal life in one word, he would probably say

"prayer". For what he actually said was: "This is

eternal life that they know you, only true God"

(Jn 17:3). And we know God best by prayer.

We know God better by one moment of prayer

-of praise or thanks or contrition -than by a

thousand books. When we only talk about Him, we only know about Him; when we

talk to Him, we get to know Him.

Job got a fortaste of heaven, seeing God "face to face", because he spoke to God,

while his three friends only spoke about Him. Though God gave Job no explanations

for his mysterious trials, Job was satisfied because he had something infinitely

better than any answer: the Answerer. He said to God: "I had heard you by hearing

of the ear, but now my eye sees you" (Job 42:5). This is what heaven is: seeing

God. Prayer is its appetizer.