A child is told by her parents that if she saves up a hundred dollars, she can use it to pay her way into an amusement park. So, for months the child does extra chores around the house to build up her bank account, so that she can reach her one-hundred-dollar goal. Then the magic moment comes. She trades her money for a ticket and walks through the gate into the wonderland that she had been anticipating for months. As she drinks in the excitement of the park, she realizes that her many hours of chores were well worth the returns on her investment.
During Lent, when we give away money, do our fasting, and spend more time in prayer, are we not getting ourselves ready for something that far outweighs the little sacrifices that we make. God is not trying to make life tough on us; rather he is helping us “get in shape” for wonderful surprises of his love. Some liken Lent to a “honeymoon” time with God in the desert. His goal is not that we do heroic deeds for him; rather it is to get us apart from the distractions of life so we can experience his personal love for us in a brand-new way.
Last week the focus was on fasting; this week the Church turns our attention to prayer. We read the familiar passage in which Jesus taught his disciples how to pray (Matthew 6:7-15).
“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words…Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This is how you are to pray: Our Father who art in heaven…’”
Sometimes our prayers are mere “babbling.” We recite formulas from memory or from a prayer book with the intent of getting them done, so we can go on to something more appealing to us. Reciting prayers is not the same as “praying.” If saying prayers becomes just another duty, then we are doing our chores without going to the amusement park. Prayer is the highest form of human activity because it brings us into a moment of ultimate fulfillment—union with God. It is taking a step away from this life so that we can bask, for a time, in the wonders of heaven. Notice how Jesus begins the prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven.” When we pray, we make connections with our Father who dwells in heaven. That means we are crossing the threshold between earth and heaven and getting a taste of what heaven is really like. God wants us to walk into the “amusement park” of his presence now, even before we’ve done the “hundred-dollars-worth” of spiritual exercises.
St. Teresa of Avila advised her sisters who were struggling with prayer to recite slowly and repeatedly the “Our Father” until each of the words began to open their hearts to the reality they signify.
If we love God as much as he wants us to, then the mere word “Father” would put our hearts in instant touch with His.
Perhaps our Lenten resolution might be to ask the Holy Spirit to help us graduate from “saying prayers” to “praying.”
