Sunday after the Ascension
The apostles had seen Our Blessed Lord disappear into the Heavens taken up by a cloud; in obedience to His command, they go and “sit in the city” until the power would be given from on high for the mission to which they were destined. They go there with Our Blessed Lady and make a nine-day retreat, the first novena, waiting for God’s Gift, in prayer, contemplating the words and deeds Our Lord had performed in their midst. It was in this way that they prepared for the first Pentecost, giving us the model for not only making ready for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit but also for any authentic prayer.
It is the perfect opportunity to pursue last week’s reflections on prayer and, in particular, the qualities of prayer. It’s not enough to say prayers with our lips, nor is it enough to sit in a chapel and let our minds roam at will. True prayer is aimed at God and, therefore, requires the attention of our faculties. We use our memory and intellect to consider points of God’s revelation to us and our will and even our emotions to choose to live in conformity with what He has shown us. At the same time, we are body and soul, and so our bodies must also be involved in prayer by adopting the proper attitude. We just saw the apostles go and sit in the Cenacle, and next week, we will be told that the Holy Spirit comes while they are sitting, that is to say, in a position of repose and optimal receptivity, which is the opposite of feverish activity which leaves no room for tranquillity. But for this position of tranquillity to be truly profitable, we should, at least at certain times of our prayer, show our reverence by standing, bowing, kneeling or sometimes even by lying prostrate on the ground in an act of adoration.
Any authentic form of prayer begins with humility. We come to prayer because we are conscious of our neediness and our poverty, and we acknowledge that God has everything that we need. Furthermore, we accept that we really have no right to be heard; if God listens to our prayer, it is because He is good and wants what is best for us. This humility is really what attracts God’s grace to us, for since He created us and we are entirely dependent upon Him at every moment, it pleases Him very much when we realise this and humble ourselves in His presence, just as He detests the proud attitude of those who think they do not need God or who think they have a right to be heard. In a magnificent homily in today’s Matins, St Caesarius tells us: “God is high, but if thou art lifted up He fleeth from thee, whereas, if thou humblest thyself, He cometh down to thee. Wherefore? The Lord is high, He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar (Ps 137:6). To the lowly He hath respect, that He may raise them up; the proud He knoweth from afar, that He may thrust them down”.
Authentic prayer must also be made with confidence that we will be heard. St James tells us: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (Jam 1:5-8). Clearly, if we come to prayer doubting that we will be heard, it manifests little confidence that God cares about us, and that is highly displeasing to Him, for His care over us is far greater than any care we could have for ourselves. Such prayer will never be heard.
Prayer must also be endowed with perseverance, for oftentimes, the Lord grants at the end of our prayer what He refused at the beginning. Sometimes, even our prayers are answered only after years of supplication. There are even certain prayers that the Lord refuses to answer all our lives because He wants to give us something greater. Our Lord Himself told us in the Gospel that we must always pray and not lose heart (cf Lk 18:1), and this command introduces a parable that stresses the need to persevere: “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily” (Lk 18:2-8). By putting off the answer to our prayer, the Lord tests our resolve; He wants to see how much we truly desire what we are asking for. Most importantly, He seeks to increase our desire so that when it is granted, we will truly profit from it. What we are meant to have eternally deserves to be longed for over a very long period of time.
These attitudes that are proper to authentic prayer are expressed in another way in the prayer that we recite at the beginning of the divine office. “Open, O Lord, my mouth to bless thy holy Name; cleanse also my heart from all vain, evil, and wandering thoughts; enlighten my understanding and kindle my affections; that I may worthily, attentively, and devoutly recite this Hour, and so be meet to be heard before the presence of thy divine Majesty.”
Worthily, attentively and devoutly: those are the qualities of every true prayer. A prayer worthy of God is one that meets the requirements of reverential fear of the Divine Majesty, including our posture and the way we pronounce the words by which we intend to give glory to God, and this demands that we take a moment to realise what we are about to do. This is why we bow in adoration to Almighty God before we begin the office. Attentively refers to the effort we put into actually thinking of what we are saying. This attention in this life is never perfect because the weakness of our intellect causes us to be drawn frequently in various directions, but it is within our power to make an effort to focus on the Lord each time we realise we are distracted. This attention can be focused on the words of the prayer we are saying, on their meaning, or, quite simply, on the Lord Himself if He grants us that grace. Devoutly is the most important. It refers to the manner in which we put our heart entirely into the prayer we offer to God without letting ourselves get distracted by other things while conversing with Him. Our Lord one day said to St Catherine of Siena: “He who prays with little application reaps little; he who prays with much application reaps much. The more the soul tries to purify her love and unite herself to Me by the light of her intellect, the more she knows Me. The more she knows Me, the more she loves Me. The more she loves Me, the more she tastes Me.”
Another important attitude in prayer is obedience. Our Lord one day said to St Mechtilde: “Whoever wants his prayers to reach My ears and be favourably answered must be ready to obey at all times, for it is impossible that the prayers of an obedient man should not be accepted.” This makes perfect sense. Indeed, if we come to God with the perfect disposition to embrace His will manifested in holy obedience, how could He possibly refuse to grant what we ask of Him, given that we are ready to do whatever He asks us?
In today’s epistle, St Peter gives us an all-important lesson for the efficaciousness of our prayers, namely that we must, above all, have mutual charity. If our love for each other is sincere, then the Lord will readily hear our prayer, whereas if this is not the case, His grace will be impeded. We must never forget that the only sign our Lord gave us of the authenticity of our spiritual life is if we truly have love for one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another (Jn 13:35).
With these profound lessons on prayer in mind, as we prepare for Pentecost and also begin the month of the Sacred Heart, let us take care to withdraw frequently with Mother Mary into the solitude of our own hearts and there, in communion with all the Church, let us beg for an abundant outpouring of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, confident that the Spirit Himself is inspiring that prayer, and if we are humble and persevering, will give us far more and far better than we can desire or even imagine.
