Why Pray?
When St. Paul counsels us to “pray constantly,” or the Catholic Catechism calls prayer a “vital necessity,” even a good Christian might be forgiven for asking, “Why?”
Why is it necessary at all, if we believe that God knows our thoughts, loves us thoroughly and gives us all that we need?
What can the point possibly be?
Sisters Catherine Cleary, Sheila McGrath, Marlene Miller, Cecile Baer, Susan Hutchens and Jackie Walsh share their thoughts.
We become our true selves.
“If you don’t talk with your parents, they will still care for you and love you, but you’ll have no relationship with them,” Sr. Catherine says.
“We don’t have to pray, but the invitation is there. It’s an invitation into relationship, into presence.”
Which is, Sr. Catherine notes, the natural state of love.
“Relationship is based on love,” she says. “If I love my parents and my friends, I talk with them. I take time to be with them and listen to them.”
Sr. Catherine says we are never more our true selves than when we pray.
“Prayer allows us to come into awareness of our true essence or being. I believe that God shares divine life with us and prayer is our consent to that belief.”
As for how to pray? She quotes St. Paul in Romans 8:23: We do not know how to pray...but the Spirit intercedes within.
We become better people.
The transformative power of prayer has daily implications, in relationships, in our jobs, even in the mundane moments of our lives.
“Whether we pray for ourselves or for others, prayer benefits us,” Sr. Sheila says.
“It connects us to those for whom we pray, and connects us to God. It makes us better people.”
Does prayer actually work?
When we pray for a cure or a better job, do we affect the outcome?
Sr. Marlene says that’s something we simply cannot know, at least not in this life.
“It’s a mystery, and we thrive on mystery,” she says. “Not everything can be explained.
“Does prayer work? It does for me. I couldn’t face the daily trials and tribulations of life without a relationship with God.”
Sr. Cecile says prayer keeps her going.
“Prayer gives me the energy, strength and will power – through my relationship with God - to get through every day,” she says.
“The rare days that I don’t get my prayers in are awful days. I need to pray.”
Bottom line? Prayer is for us.
In the end, it’s not about what we tell God, but about how we are changed by our deepening relationship with God.
“God doesn’t need anything from me but I need something from God,” Sr. Susan says.
“The point isn’t God knowing I’m here or God knowing my thoughts. God already knows. A point of prayer is to express the deepest yearning of our selves. It comes out in silence, in Scripture, in just being with God.”
How can we be with God?
Sister Jackie suggests we look to the model of friendship.
“God should be like a friend, I think,” she says. “You talk things through with your friends. You thank them for all they do for you.
“I want to stay in touch with my dearest friends. Prayer is simply this. I find my life a whole lot more peaceful when I spend time in prayer.”
Keeping company with God
Theologian Simon Tugwell makes it sound easy: ‘Prayer,’ according to one ancient definition, ‘is keeping company with God.’ But is it?
Well, yes and no. Praying – keeping company – with God can be as easy as watching the sunrise with love and awe. The challenge is to do it, as St. Paul says, constantly.
Why? Tugwell says constant prayer will remind us of who we are and who we want to be:
“In our relationship with God, one of the main problems is that half the time we just forget about it. … Somehow we must find a way of remembering God that does not work in fits and starts, but that will actually last through the day; a kind of fundamental remembrance of God that will affect our heart, and allow our most unpremeditated and spontaneous behavior to be transformed, as it were, at the root.”
Prayer is gift. In words, in Scripture, in silence and in the deep listening we bring to one another, prayer builds relationship with the source of all that is.