However, the spiritual battle to pray regularly demands not only constant effort on our part to make time to pray but the wisdom to see how we can be deceived.
Often we decide we are going to pray even though our heart and mind are wrapped up in some upcoming project or emotional disturbance or some similar internal stress. What often happens is that we go through the motions of prayer without the essential component, communion with God. We just want to get our obligation to pray out of the way.
Our body is there but our mind and heart are caught up in something altogether different. This is different from the ordinary distractions of our prayer. More importantly this is not the same as dryness in prayer which makes our prayer time difficult. This dryness often is a sign of progress and purification. In the situation I am concerned about we just do not pray because our heart is not involved.
Teresa of Avila has some sound advice to begin prayer. Be conscious to whom you are speaking and be aware of yourself as a poor sinner. For her humility is the critical ingredient for us to gain focus in the beginning of prayer.
The Christian tradition has always taught that there are three styles of prayer: vocal, mental or reflective, and contemplative. All three styles of prayer aim at communion with God. This is essential to all prayer. We have to make the connection by faith with God.
Whether prayer comes from words or bodily expressions or the silence in the deepest part of our being, true prayer has one common source. The Scriptures repeat in over one thousand passages that prayer comes from the heart. Just saying the words or going through the motions without the inner connection of the heart is not prayer. Composure of the heart overcomes this obstacle.
The heart is the deepest truth about us. It is where we live when we are most authentic. The most powerful element of life, love, flows from the heart. The heart is our hidden center that even transcends the power of reason. Only the Spirit of God truly understands the depth and beauty of our heart. All other loves are ultimately partial and incomplete when it comes to our heart. The heart is our way to discover what is truly real. Prayer is essential to this journey.
When we pray, whether in the rapture of charismatic chants or the deep silence of contemplative prayer, we need to pray from the heart. Attempting prayer out of habit without being truly present from the depth of our heart leads to failure. At best, such a superficial effort easily slips into a waste of time.
I am sure we all have had this experience of not making the connection with the heart at the beginning of our prayer. This is because we take the spiritual battle of prayer for granted. Prayer demands work and determination. Sometimes, just trying to make the connection to the heart is our prayer. God is patient and loving. Often the struggle to gather ourselves away from the pressures, worries and desires of life is a meaningful expression of love on our part that God embraces.
It is helpful to have the habit of deep, personal prayer. There is, however, a shadow side to this personal growth. We often slip into a shallow approach to prayer. Our ego is our nemesis in this battle of prayer. The conflict is driven by the consequences of sin and leads the ego to despise prayer because it means it is losing control.
This spiritual warfare is often hidden. This is why it is so important to consciously work for composure of the heart, to be truly attentive to what is going on within us when we pray. It always demands an determination. We need to clear the heart of our preoccupations, anxieties, hurts and desires. Life will be there waiting for us after we pray.
Composure of the heart helps us to be aware that we are truly in the loving presence of God. This active recollection supports us in doing the right thing and being present with all our heart to this encounter with God.
To pray is a gift. There is nothing commonplace about it. We need to constantly return to the admonition of Teresa. Be conscious of whose presence we stand and of our humble but blessed state of conflicted humanity.
