Last month, we reflected on joy and its astonishing ability to sustain the soul. But where does that joy ultimately lead us? Saint Augustine provides insight. He explains that when we pray, beneath all the particular things we ask of God, we long for de beata vita, or the happy life. This is not a life without difficulty, disappointment, or suffering, but rather a life in which our deepest desires come to rest in God.
Prayer helps to lead us there, because prayer does more than present our desires to God. Prayer teaches our hearts what they should truly desire. Over time, it draws our attention away from the things that can never completely satisfy us toward the One who can.
That makes prayer especially important in our own time. Pope Leo XIV laments that in a culture shaped by efficiency and consumerism, prayer can appear “pointless and trivial,” or even be mistaken for little more than a technique for personal well-being. Yet, he reminds us that prayer is actually “a fundamental dimension of our humanity” worthy of our attention. This month, we shift our focus to consider not only how we are praying, but also what we are praying and why.
Traditional prayers enrich the glorious treasury of sacred resources we employ to understand and express our faith. They are foundational to our habit of prayer and are formed through scripture and doctrine. They provide an entrée into communication with the divine when we are unsure how to begin and a compass to direct our conversation when we require support and inspiration. They enable us to present one voice when we join together in communal worship.
Saint Phillip Neri reminds us that “It is an old custom of the saints of God to have some little prayers ready and to be frequently darting them up to heaven during the day, lifting their minds to God out of the mire of this world. He who adopts this plan will obtain great fruits with little pain.” Yet Saint Augustine cautions that “Many cry to God, but not with the voice of the soul, but with the voice of the body; only the cry of the heart, of the soul, reaches God.”
Simply reciting words is not praying. Therefore, we must take care to ensure our prayers do not become mechanical. Prayer is so much more than repetitive phrases. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that prayer is “a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God” (CCC 2558). An effective prayer is offered from a humble heart and delivered with thoughtful intention. “According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain” (CCC 2562). Saint John Climacus observes that “Faith furnishes prayer with wings, without which it cannot soar to heaven.”
Perhaps we sometimes forget just how extraordinary this really is. Most Reverend Archbishop José H. Gomez describes it eloquently: “We have the beautiful privilege to talk to the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the One who made all the seas and mountains and planets and stars, and everything that lives. And we can know that the Creator is listening.”
Saint Augustine describes persistent prayer as a process through which the heart’s desires are purified and enlarged, making us increasingly receptive to God’s great gifts. For that reason, he recommends the Lord’s Prayer as a blueprint for our petitions. Our requests for health, security, success, relief, or provision are not necessarily wrong, but they should ultimately be ordered toward something greater. Saint Augustine calls that greater desire the one thing: the happy life found in dwelling with God.
We use prayer to reflect deeply on the significance of our belief, God’s infinite charity for us, and our role in salvation history. Only through God can sin and death be conquered. Only with God can we fulfill our purpose. And only in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit can we unite in prayer. Our prayer draws us into the love of God and leads us beyond knowing about Him to actually knowing Him.
Pope Leo XIV puts the importance of that relationship in striking terms: “Time spent in prayer is the most fruitful investment of one’s life, because it is there that the Lord shapes our feelings, purifies our desires and strengthens our vocation.” Although he addresses these words to seminarians, the principle applies to every Christian life. The more fervently we speak with God, the better we learn to recognize His voice, understand His will, and desire what draws us closer to Him.
Archbishop Gomez calls prayer a “treasure” God has given us so that we can know Him, love Him, and share our lives with Him. “We need to put God first,” he states, “to make our friendship with God our primary obligation.”
In the spirit of that friendship, our September “Weekly Challenge” section examines the meaning behind some of our most common prayers. Rather than allowing familiar words to pass automatically across our lips, we ponder what they teach us about God, about ourselves, and about the desires we bring before Him. For as Saint John Vianney reminds us, “Humanity has a noble task: that of prayer and love. To pray and to love, that is the happiness of men and women on earth.”
