Prayer is oxygen for the soul. Just as the body
needs to breathe, so we need to allow our souls to draw in deeply the love that
is the very source of our existence.
Often, we bring to prayer the hectic pace that
can pervade our days. And then we can wonder why there was no awareness of the Lord’s
presence. Many blessings of consolation and guidance and encouragement are not
received because the vessel of our heart is already filled, busy about many
things.
So, rather than rushing into prayer, it is good
to change pace and prepare our hearts. We slow down, find some solitude, move into
silence, and still the mind and heart. ‘When you pray, go into your room, close
the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen’ (Matthew 6:6). We consciously
enter into our inner sanctuary.
A sacred space can greatly help. For some of
us, it may be a corner of a room with a comfortable chair and a crucifix and
Bible on a table, for others it may be a quiet spot at the back of a church we
pass daily on the way to work.
There is a power in simple rituals to help us centre the heart and mind.
Some of us may light a candle before an icon or cross. Others of us may bless
ourselves slowly and prayerfully, invoking the Spirit to lead us in prayer.
We bring our bodies to prayer. If we notice
that we are carrying tension in our bodies, we can sit straight and breathe in
slowly and gently, holding our breath briefly before exhaling. Doing this
several times can help ease stress and calm the body. All of this is both a preparation
for prayer and a prayer itself.
The image of our heart as an open vessel, ready
to receive, has been used to describe the interior disposition that most
blesses us in prayer. We take time to prepare our heart so that we come before
the Lord receptive and docile to his grace.
A powerful prayer of trust that gives the Lord freedom in our prayer
might be: ‘Jesus, all that you want to give me, I long to receive. All that you
long to do in me, with all my heart I want it to happen.’
