Prayer Is A Dialogue

EWTN, Global Catholic Radio, and St. Joseph Communications proudly present Life Is Worth Living with Archbishop Fulton Sheen. This 50-part series was recorded on phonograph records in the 1960s, and the sound quality is sometimes limited, but the Word of God spoken by Archbishop Sheen is timeless. And now, here is Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Peace be to you. Many look on prayer in somewhat the same fashion as an aviator may look on a parachute. He hopes that he will never have to use it, but it may come in handy in case he has to bail out. Prayer, as our Blessed Lord talked about it and taught it, was something quite different. Let us first of all see how prayer was used in his own life. There are four great heads under which our Blessed Lord spoke of prayer. First of all, his prayers were at the great events of his life. He prayed at his baptism. He prayed before he chose the twelve apostles. He prayed also before Peter made the confession of his divinity. He prayed at the Transfiguration. He prayed in Gethsemane. He prayed on the cross. Then in addition to these great events of his life, he prayed also in the course of his ministry. He prayed, for example, before the great conflict with the temple authorities. He prayed before giving the apostles the Lord's Prayer. He prayed when the Greeks came to him, and he prayed after feeding the five thousand. In addition to these two special headings of prayer, he also prayed at his miracles. He prayed, for example, when he healed the multitudes, when he fed the five thousand, when he healed the deaf-mute, and when he raised Lazarus from the dead. Then in a fourth category, there were prayers that he said for others. He prayed for the eleven. He prayed for the whole church. He prayed for those who nailed him to the cross. And in a very special way, he prayed for Peter. Now taking out all that he said about prayer, what is prayer? Well, the best definition of prayer is that it is a lifting of the mind and the heart to God. To make it more simple, prayer is a dialogue. Man breaks silence in two ways, a dialogue with his fellow man, and a dialogue with God. My dialogue with a fellow man is a proof that he is a person, and so am I. The same is implied in a dialogue with God. Both of these dialogues are fulfilled in the two commandments, love God and love neighbor. Turn over the pages of sacred scripture. What do you find? You find a record of men to whom God has spoken, and you'll also find a record of men who listened to him. In other words, scripture is fulfilled in concrete living dialogues. Now men do not always want that dialogue with God. Sometimes they seek it. Other times they flee from it. At one time, they desire it. At another time, they fear it. Adam was afraid when God called him in the garden. Cain was afraid when God spoke to him. Moses was afraid before the burning bush. When you and I have a dialogue with God, what makes it up? One thing that makes it up is, first of all, a consciousness of our own sin. And the other is the voice of God urging us to confess it, to seek his mercy. One voice crushes, the other delivers life. One of the most beautiful examples of dialogue in scripture is that between St. Paul and our Lord, the risen Christ, on the road to Damascus. And everything that St. Paul wrote after that was nothing but a dialogue in which he was very unengaged. For God's answer always was, my grace is sufficient for thee. Now we said that prayer is the lifting of the heart and mind of God. Notice we said nothing so much about the emotions. Why not? Well, because prayer really does not have very much to do with sensations or emotions or feelings. It's not a feeling in the stomach, just as it is not a pain in the stomach. It is not a capricious feeling, something that makes us purr on the inside. It has nothing to do with the animal part of us. It is not in the glands. It is in the intellect, it is in the will, it is in the heart. It is a love of embracing, a love of truth, which belongs to the intellect. And also a resolve and a determination to grow in love, which is one of the acts of the will. We do not therefore pray because we feel like it. Sometimes our prayers are much better when we do not feel like praying. Saint Francis de Sales said, an ounce of desolation is of greater worth than a pound of consolation. Very often in prayer we do not have a deep sense of the presence of God. I say sense, referring it to the biological or emotional part of our lives. Maybe we are very much like children that are carried in mother's arms. If we are carried in our Lord's arms, we rarely see his face, but we know it is there. Prayer then is an intercourse between the created spirit and the uncreated spirit, which is God. It is a communion, a conversation, an adoration, a penance, a happiness, a work, a rest, and asking, a submission. It is many, many forms, some belonging to beginners and others belonging to great saints. For example, there is vocal prayer, what we say with our lips. Then there is meditation, which is a kind of a spiritual daydream or reverie. Then there is the higher contemplation of saints, which is an affective union with God. In vocal prayer we go to God on foot. In meditation we go to God on horseback. And in contemplation we go to God in a jet. It may be asked, why should we pray? Well, why breathe? We have to take in fresh air and get rid of bad air. We have to take in new power and get rid of our old weaknesses. We pray because we are orchestras and we always need a tune-up. Just as a battery sometimes runs down and needs to be charged, so we have to be renewed in spiritual vigor. Our blessed Lord said, without me you can do nothing. Oh yes, we can eat and drink and we can sin, but we cannot do anything toward our supernatural merit and heaven without him. We happen to live in a conditional universe, and because we fulfill certain conditions and certain effects are produced. For example, if you strike a match, it will light. That's the condition. So too there are millions and millions of favors hanging from heaven on silken cords, and prayer is the sword that cuts them. Our real strength comes from without, not within. Light is not in the eye. It is in the sun. Sound is not in the ear. It is in something outside of us. The sun uses the eye, music uses the ear, and God uses us in prayer. When we pray, we get into a new environment of love. It is something like the difference between a child in a nice family and a waif. A waif of the street has no guarantee of security, for example, food and clothing and shelter, because the child is not in an environment of love such as the child in a family. When we pray, we put ourselves under God's love, and hence we receive blessings which otherwise we would not receive. Now this is something very much to keep in mind in family life. Those, for example, who are raising children and never put themselves in God's care and providentially trust him, are not receiving the blessings of those who know that when God gives a child, he will also provide for it. That brings us to some concrete suggestions about prayer. The first is this. In prayer, do not do all the talking. If you went into a doctor's office, you would not rattle off the symptoms and then rush out. How did you learn to speak the English language? You learned to speak by listening, did you not? How did a scientist learn the laws of nature? By imposing laws upon nature? No, he sits down passively before nature and says to nature, now you reveal to me your secrets. So we are not constantly to be yapping in prayer. Sacred scripture says, speak Lord, thy servant heareth. We often change that and we say, listen Lord, thy servant speaketh. Prayer is not a one-way street, it is a boulevard. In prayer, therefore, we must not only speak, we must also listen. God talks to us, and more in meditation than in vocal prayer. The second suggestion. Petition is a very valid form of prayer, but do not make all your prayers, prayers a petition. In other words, let not the attitude before God be, give me, give me this, give me that. What would a young man think of a girl who constantly said, give me this mink coat, give me this ring, send me these flowers? Is it not true that when you love, you are embarrassed when anyone asks, what do you want? The more you love, in a certain sense, the less you want. Now this does not mean to say, God forbid, that we must not pray for certain favors from God. We will speak of that later on, because petition is an essential part of prayer. The point we are making is that it is not all prayer. It is not the perfect prayer. Therefore think of other forms of prayer besides asking. Thirdly, when you pray, do not think that God is reluctant about giving you favors. You must not think that God acts toward you in somewhat the same way that some people act toward a beggar. If they see a beggar on the other side of the street, well, they will turn a corner perhaps to get rid of him. God is a loving Father. As soon as we begin praying, he does not turn a deaf ear to us. Think therefore of your relationship to God in somewhat the same way as the relationship of a child to a father. And that is the way our blessed Lord told us to pray. When in the Our Father, which contains seven petitions, he began with Our Father. A fourth suggestion. There are liturgical prayers. There are indulgence prayers. We should always be favored, but in your private devotions, you should try to remember that your prayer should be your prayer. Do not let all of your prayers be like circular letters. When you get a circular letter, do you not sometimes put it in a wastebasket? I do not. You pray out of your own heart. Your heart has problems like no one else in the world. It has certain worries and hopes, agonies and fears and weaknesses, and these constitute the content of your prayer. And your prayer will come out of them. You will be a person who is praying. Our blessed Lord said that he calls his sheep by name. In other words, we are individual before him. Our blessed Lord turned to the thief and addressed him in the second person singular, Thou, this day Thou, shalt be with me in paradise. Let therefore your prayer be personal. Even when you say certain indulgence and liturgical prayers, hearken to God, be attentive to him. If you were not attentive to him as a person, how can you expect him to hearken to you? If you look around when someone else is in the room whom you ought to be addressing, do you feel that you have a claim upon his favors? And so it is with God. Pray out of your heart. And fifth, every now and then, cut out the dead word of prayer. Over a long period of time, you will fall into certain habits and certain routines. And you become so used to them that they lack fervor. Do not be afraid to say, all right, I'm going to get out of this jungle. I'm going to start all over again. God will not be angry with you. As a matter of fact, such an attitude may freshen your prayers, make you much more personal. Another suggestion, always let the motive of your prayer be love. St. Augustine once said, give me a man who is loved and I will tell him what God is. Whatever lovers say to one another, that you say to God. And think not therefore of your relationship to him as being that of a servant to a master, but as a lover to the beloved. And seventh, keep all of your prayers fresh by praying out of your heart, by praying out of the inspiration of love. Then your prayers will be something like a fourth century lyric, which a husband by the name of Orsonius wrote to his wife. Wife, let us live as we have lived, nor ever lose the little names that were the first night's grace. It takes a great deal of effort in marriage to keep up the freshness of love. Sacrifices have to be sprinkled through a marriage. And so to every now and then when love becomes routine, we freshen it by a sacrifice. No one ever rises to a higher level of love without a death to a lower one. And finally, do not let all of your prayers be like blueprints which you bring to God and then ask him to rubber stamp. Remember that God has an intelligence and a plan of your own life, which is far better than the one you have. A little baby may cry for taffy, but the mother will not give the baby taffy. A boy of six wants a shotgun, but the father will not give the boy of six a shotgun. There are some things that are not good for us. And God's answer to prayer sometimes is no. A little girl once prayed for a thousand dollars for Christmas, and her unbelieving father said to her, on Christmas, well, God didn't answer your prayers, did he? And the little girl said yes. God said no. So when you pray to God, say something like this. I mean in petitionary prayer. Dear Lord, there's something I want. I need it badly. I hope I want it for thy glory. I hope it's best for my salvation. You know what it is. Maybe it is not good for me, or else you would have given it to me long before this. But just in case you're waiting for me to ask you again, well, I'm asking for it. You will know best what to do. Thanks. And in conclusion, may we suggest two special forms of prayer. One, the rosary, and two, silence and meditation. First of all, the rosary. The rosary is almost like words with music. It combines the physical, the moving of the beads through the fingers, the mental, the meditation on the joyful and the sorrowful and the glorious mysteries of our Lord and His Blessed Mother. And finally, something vocal, namely saying our prayer with our lips. There was once a young lady who said to me, I think a rosary is monotonous, and I don't think God likes for us to say monotonous prayers. I said to her, who's that man with you? She said, that's my fiancé. I said, do you love him? She said, yes. I said, how does he know? Well, she said, I told him. What did you say? I said, I love you. When did you tell him? Last night. Did you ever tell him before? She said, yes, I told him the night before. Well, don't you think he tires of it? Isn't it a bit monotonous? No. Saying that we love is never monotonous, because we say it in a new moment of time and in a new place. And so it is with our rosary. And finally, silence. Take out at least a half an hour a day. Live above yourself. Live within yourself. Have an inward solitude. Fulfill the words of John the Baptist. He must increase. I must decrease. And in the language of St. Paul you will say that your life is hidden with Christ in God. Through prayer, contemplation, you can say, as St. Bernard said to Pope Eugenius, et sto ubiqui. Always belong to yourself. And then you will belong to God. God love you. This has been Life is Worth Living with Archbishop Fulton Sheen. For more information about this series, contact St. Joseph Communications at 1-800-526-2151. Outside the U.S., call 818-331-3549. And please join us again next time for Life is Worth Living with Archbishop Fulton Sheen on EWTN Global Catholic Radio. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © BF-WATCH TV 2021