February 28, 2005

Moses and Elijah prayed to Jesus. The apostles Peter, James, and John saw them doing it in the Transfiguration. Prayer is conversation with God. The Catechism describes prayer as "the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God" (CCC 2590). As the ability to pray is a human characteristic, so is humanity reduced to an animal level without prayer. That Catholic genius Blaise Pascal said: "All the misfortunes of men derive from one single thing, which is their inability to be at ease in a room." Prayer is the source of "ease in a room," for our room is the planet on which we spend our brief life span, and the soul of man will inevitably be restless absent communion with God. St. Augustine spoke from hard experience: "Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they find rest in Thee."

Four chief attacks on the Church were attacks on the monasteries as centers of prayer: The Protestant Revolution, the French Revolution, the Marxist Revolution, and the Modernist Revolution all held as useless the consecration of lives for prayer. The collapse of many religious orders in our generation is part of this misunderstanding of the centrality of prayer for authentic human life. Pope John Paul II hosts a community of contemplative nuns in the Vatican with the job of praying for him and the needs of the Church, as a spiritual generator empowering the Church's mission. The Pope is turning his physical disability into a powerful engine of prayer and we will come to understand that, of all his accomplishments, his sanctification of suffering accomplishes the most good, "for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:9).

Lent accentuates prayer as the norm for all Christian life. Monasteries are not the only place for prayer. Their tranquility can even make prayer more difficult. St. Thérèse of Lisieux perspired in anxiety caused by the slightest distractions in the chapel until she resolved to make those distractions prayers of praise. Jesus often went to a quiet place to pray but he did not stop praying when the crowds pulled him back into the daily riot of life.

Willful pursuit of distraction is sinful. I have actually seen people talking on cellular phones in church. They have publicly declared their idols. A salutary sacrifice consists in the struggle to focus attention on God. After God the Father spoke from a cloud on Mount Tabor, the three disciples "only saw Jesus." A man who does not see Jesus alone always will be lonely. The daily routine of normal work becomes more productive when it is made into a prayer, and praying creates the time needed to accomplish tasks. St. Francis de Sales said that if you do not have time in the day for thirty minutes of prayer, spend an hour.

Fr. George W. Rutler