PRAYER

Prayer is our conversation with God our father. It is being in communion with God and the food of our soul. It is what keep our spirit, the image of God in us alive, and since God is love, holy and perfect, our conversations with Him must ordinarily be rooted in and scented with love, to be worthy of His attention. So prayer is our love for God in action, it is the expression of our love for God in our thought, our words and our actions. It is our being in love with our father, for love is the nature of God and the language of heaven; our homeland. Prayer is love in action as God commanded us; to love and live in love in imitation of Him who is our Father, and who has loved us so much as in Christ Jesus. It is the weapon with which the soul can defend herself from every adversary if grasped with the hands of love in the light of holy faith. It is solace and strength for us and for others in all circumstances and situations as it gives us peace of mind and contentment to enable us bear the so many vexing things of this life without going off the holy part that leads to the holy embrace of our father who is in heaven.

Everything is prayer for the one who is able to love and remain in God, and this is so because to love is the fulfillment of the will of God for man. Love transforms even the humblest of our human actions into acts of adoration agreeable to God, and so, prayer is not restricted to words. We pray with our thoughts, our actions and even our omission, and we achieve everything by praying; by being in communion with God who is the source of all. But if we do not receive a grace for which we have prayed, we must learn not to see such as an expression of lack of love and affection from God. Instead, we should accept such as the divine will of our father who loves us and knows what is good for us at each point in time. Yes, we must believe and accept that the supreme will of God our father governs the destiny of each one of us for a good purpose, and so submit to Him in humility. But take note that in our vocal prayers, the quality of our prayer is not based on our choice or number of words, but on the sentiments with which they are uttered. So, it is the prevailing relationship between you and God that makes your prayers pleasant and pleasing, or repugnant to God.

Since prayer is love in action, every situation and circumstance is an opportunity for us to commune with our father God. So, it is necessary but sufficient that we have our whole self and all our actions impregnated with love for God and neighbor to be in communion with our father. It is absolutely necessary that we labour daily to maintain a healthy relationship with God through neighbor so that our prayer may be continuous and in an atmosphere of filial love between father and child, and by so doing, the soul communes with her Creator daily and finds peace, safety and rest. Perfect prayer is to labour daily in love for God and neighbor, for that is the will of God for man. So, for our vocal prayers not to be mere words; void and meaningless formulas on stained lips, for us not to continue to embarrass the good spirits and our guardian angels by our prayer rituals, our hearts must always have a minimum of holiness and grace; else our endeavour is in vain. 

But how and where do we receive this grace, light and wisdom, unsullied and uncontaminated by the things of the world in order to pray well. I dare say that we receive them from the instructions and teachings of God and as revealed by the Holy Roman Apostolic Catholic Church. This is so, because, the Catholic Church is the Guardian and Repository of the Treasures of the Word and Teacher of His Doctrine. She is the light of the world to dispel the darkness of sin and ignorance, and the salt of the earth, to sweeten the pains of our humanity. But you may ask, has the Catholic Church been faithful to this mandate of Christ, or she has lost her taste and hidden the light of Christ as in a bushel on account of her own sins and weaknesses. Worry not, for she will give an account to the Master. 

We embarrass the Courts of Heaven with our vocal prayers when they are nothing short of vain noise; a showoff of selfishness and pride. Nonsensical chattering and an orchestrated jamboree; performed for the deception of simple souls at the prompting of the father of all lies and deception, Lucifer. This is when, with idolatrous hearts and at the prompting of  Lucifer, we put up a performance at prayer, wherein we curse, malign, conjure and command God to execute our evil plans against our brothers and sisters. This is when we pray with vile tongues and lips that are tainted with evil and wickedness; when we make an idol of the one true God. This is when our prayers are nothing but vain formula of human words and not worthy conversation with our Father. This is when we call on His holy name to do evil, when we demand that He do evil on our account, forgetting or ignoring that as He who called us is holy, we also are called to be holy in all our conducts. 

Yes. Since God is holy, our conversations with Him must ascend in holiness to His throne, else we waste our time. And prayer cannot be holy unless the heart, from which it ascends, first amends its ways of living to be in line with the holy demands of God. We must therefore amend our habits, our affections, and our rules of justice to be in line with the ways of God for our prayers, vocal or otherwise, to be worth the attention of the Heavenly Court. Our prayer should not be vain formula of human words, but worthy conversation with God the Father through the Son in the presence of the Holy Spirit in an atmosphere of love. And to achieve this state of being, we must labour daily to live in love as demanded by God. Jesus takes shelter in faithful hearts but withdraws from those who do not love, despite their names and titles. And like a sorrowful father who is shamed and embarrassed by the shameful conduct of a child, He turns His back on anyone who failed in his duty of love for God and neighbour.  Such disgraces himself or herself before the Courts of heaven as an ungrateful and an unfaithful child who is not deserving of the grace and mercy of God. 

So, for our vocal prayers to be meaningful to attract the attention of heaven, we must exhibit a minimum of heavenly decorum in our everyday living. Our hearts must be filled with good will, which is trying to do what is right before God in all things and at all times, for the first temple is in the heart, and that is where holy prayers arise from. Else, how can you claim to be in communion with God when you have no love and respect for Him as God and for your neighbour as He has instructed? You claim to be a child of God, but you deliberately choose to ignore His ways and follow the paths of sin and wickedness in your determination to satisfy yourself. You have no fear of God in your heart, you live for yourself, but you profess Jesus as your Lord, and you call yourself a Christian. You are a liar, a thief and a deceiver, and you will answer for it. And woe betides those who mislead simple souls with their garments and high-sounding titles; you also, will certainly answer for it.

For who is the father that will listen to, and respond favourably to, the requests of wayward and rebellious children. Listen to the prayer of a priest at Mass (from beginning to the end) and once again, say and listen to the beautiful prayers of Jesus – The Our Father, and His prayer at Gethsemane, before His arrest, that you may know that not all words are worthy of being said to God.

In the Our Father, Jesus taught us how to commune with our father God, why to pray and for what we should pray. He taught us to honour and love God as our God and Creator, and to love our neighbour in holy obedience to God so that He may guide, provide and protect us. If we pray and live the Our Father as Jesus taught us, there will be heaven on earth, but we mostly do the opposite as we are lacking in love for God. And a soul who is lacking in love for God cannot love his neighbour and this is why in our vocal prayers, we generally do nothing but ask for material and sometimes offensive needs in an atmosphere of rancour, pride and malice. This is why our religious practices are becoming social events, as we have humanized supernatural things; we know and have everything but God. There is no sincerity in our love for God or neighbour; and we have become hypocrites, worse than the Pharisees, and are happy for it. And, like pigs in heat, we find comfort in things we ought to be ashamed of; we are bold in our sin and disobedience. 

But for the few who are in love with and in communion with God, whose life is a continuous prayer for the glory of God and welfare of neighbours, they are the bright stars in the dark sky of humanity. Heaven sees these solitary souls, and their entreaty rings out in golden voices amidst the sing-song of the jarring, raucous poor requests of the many. Their pains and tears are the soothing balm on the sorrowful heart of Jesus for the transgression of the many. They are the few friends of Jesus in the multitude. Faithful souls, the Veronica of today, who with their love wipe away the tears on the holy but sorrowful face of Jesus, who consoles the Mother for the pains caused the Son. We must learn to love again so that our prayers will not be machine-like movements from which the soul is excluded. A proud heart is an empty heart and has nothing to offer to God, but the prayer of a humble soul is a movement of the spirit, a union of hearts. Or do you not know that when two hearts are in love they are always in communion; always thinking of how to please the one he loves? 

We must therefore amend our ways; make of our hearts altars of love where we offer true worship of love to God, for love is the only prayer that is pleasing to our father who is in heaven. It is true that without grace, everything is difficult, including prayers. But know that by a humble, continual and faithful prayer life, the soul acquires, with time and perseverance, every necessary virtue to improve in this holy life giving relationship with God. We should therefore not be discouraged, but persevere in our communion with God, even in difficult times. We should never abandon prayer, our communion with God for any reason, either through our weakness or the illusion of the devil that our union with God is a waste. But remember that it is absolutely necessary to pray well, and that we can never pray well, unless we are ready to walk with God; to do everything in His ways. 

It is when we are in union with God in obedience to the precepts of love for God and neighbour that everything becomes prayer for us. That is when we pray without even opening our mouth, as we have satisfied the holy demands of love; for love is prayer in action. Know that it is only through actions rooted in love for God and neighbour that we are in communion with God; else we are liars and deceivers. To obey God is to be united to God, and this increases our capabilities in everything including prayers, and the prayer of a good man has powerful effects; it ordinarily compels God to act and stupefy Lucifer. The prayer of one good man, can save a nation and ward off evil and calamity from a people. Remember father Abraham and the city of Sodom?

The earth is a big altar wherein we are to make amends and daily offerings to God through our everyday relationships with our neighbour. And whenever we are able to treat one another with love and affection as we ought, our actions become living prayers, rising like sweet smelling incense to the throne of our Father in heaven. Then as Abel, God will be pleased with us to accept our offerings and sacrifices, and He will never abandon us. He will hear and answer our requests, for it is just that every good father grants the good requests of his obedient child. Then our going to Church is no more to pray, but to fellowship with one another in love and thanksgiving as children of the same Father; to offer the perfect and most pleasing Sacrifice, the Eucharist, to God in thanksgiving for His goodness and to plead for mercy in recognition of our weakness. Know that it is our obedience and not vigils and marathon prayers that open the treasure house of our Father for all our needs, as He promised in Christ Jesus.

Often, the devil places himself upon our tongues, causing us to chatter away nonsensically in our vocal prayers in a machine-like movement from which the soul is excluded. He does this with the sole purpose of preventing us from the prayer of the soul, which is a union of the creature to his creator; a union of spirits. But for many already caught up in this storm of prayer rituals, where the body prays and not the soul, where the body is in control and master of the spirit, you should not despair. For by means of the virtues of love and perseverance, you shall gradually advance in holy prayer, which will open your eyes and affections to the abundance of the mercy of God made visible in Jesus. Know that love transforms even the humblest of our actions into prayers and adoration agreeable to our Father, and so persevere in love. Oh, men of God, who in your pride and weakness mislead the children of God with your magic rituals, beware, for you will account to the Good Shepherd for each and every soul whom you have led astray by your actions.

We do not receive much nourishment from our prayers because we do not often pray well. Our prayers are rather more of words than of love, words devoid of love and affection, empty words and routine, devoid of any devotion. We know the scripture by heart, but we do not possess the spirit of the letters; we are Christians by name. We love Jesus but not His Doctrine, and so, in our vocal prayers, we give heed to nothing except to complain, contend with Satan, question God for His goodness to others, and command Him to do our will. We forget that God is not our servant, and that He does not exist to do our will. No, it is the other way round; we exist for Him and at His pleasure. Know that it is not many words that obtain result, but the doing of the will of God in everything. Thus, prayers and resistance to the will of God mean nullifying prayers, for how can you demand that God should bend to your ears when you do not bend or wish to bend to His will. You rejected Him first in your disobedience, and so He turns His face away from you in sorrow. He turns away from you in sorrow because He loves you so much, and it is not His wish to lose you.

Many of us have fallen into the idolatry of vocal prayer. This is when our prayer is defined and restricted to standards which must be performed by all means, and once completed, we are justified. Such people pray only vocally, completing certain psalms, prayer points and saying the certain number of rosaries, and when they have once completed the appointed tale, they do not think of or do anything further. Thus, their prayer or communion with God is restricted to only when they ‘pray’, and it should not be so. Our vocal prayer should be a support to our everyday continuous communion with our father, and not an end in itself. We should live with the mindset that God is watching us, and so, live as we ought as brothers and sisters; children of the same father, living in an atmosphere of love for father God and for one another. Our lifestyle should be love in action, and that is faith at work if really we are children of the one true God as we claim to be. And so, I ask, does your life reflect your faith in God or your prayer is just a performance. 

We bear but little fruits from our vocal prayers because there is a disconnect between our faith and our actions. Good will, which is, love for God and neighbour, should be our first concern and the foundation of our vocal prayers so that our souls will in union with our Creator before we open our mouths, else we waste our time. We do not pray or pray well if we remember God only when ‘it is time for prayer’ or because we are scared or confronted with difficulties. We should learn to pray more through our lifestyle, for God takes delight in few words and good deeds. Perfect prayer is not attained through words, but through affection of desire. That is, a soul in communion with God, connected to God through love and neighbour in love, with knowledge of her defects and of the awesome mercy of God.  

If prayer is the union of the spirit with God, then it ought to be the habitual state of man because God is our Source. Thus, we must learn to commune daily in humble union with our Father in spirit through our relationship with neighbour as He commanded. But if we are unable to establish this oneness with God, then our prayer is a lie and a task; a burden and a mere routine. It becomes a ritual, performed, not out of love, but out of pride and compulsion, and anything not done out of love is never done well. This is why we must exert ourselves for the salvation of souls in our daily living, for whatever we contribute, by words or deeds towards the good of neighbour is a wonderful prayer. And remember that neighbour is the one true medium through which we all communicate with God, and he who ceases not to love, cease not to pray. But he who prays all day but has no love for neighbour is wasting his time; he is a liar, a thief, and a deceiver, he will not bear much fruit and will have nothing much to show for the awesome love of God his father. 

Know that the tongue is made to give honour to God and for the good of neighbour. So, we must learn to use it well, for an evil tongue cannot communicate effectively with a holy God except to beg for mercy and pardon. And since neighbour is the best test of our affection for God, we must watch what we say to our neighbour, despite their weaknesses. The weakness of neighbour is our Cross and not an excuse, and this Cross is our offering of love and the expression of our unity to God; the sign of a soul in communion with his Creator. Lack of willingness to bear with neighbour is a sign of our own weakness and the reason for our iniquities, our sorrows and our tears. For when we are not united to God through neighbour and despite their weaknesses, our hearts are empty of love and filled with pride; the greatest enemy of love. And where there is no love, God cannot be found there, and where there is no God, Lucifer is in charge, despite our names and calling.  

Yes, you will be hurt, injured, and betrayed by those who ate your bread and drank your water. You will be bitter for the pains you are going through, but please, do not hate. You may not be able to forgive now, but just let it go. Pour out your pains and bitterness to your Father, who sees and knows everything. Cry to Him for the injuries received from your brothers and sisters on account of your love, and leave the rest to Him. It is not for you to command Him on how to settle the issue; let Him be the judge. After all, who is without sin? Pray to God for forgiveness of your own iniquities, and worry not so much about the weakness of your neighbour. Do you know what tomorrow has in store for you or your neighbour? Let God be the judge, and remember that your union with God, which is willingness to always do the will of God via your neighbour is your strength and your defence; the unending prayer that attracts the mercy, favours and protection of God upon you. 

In reality, many are separated from God despite our numerous churches and unending prayers. This is because many of us are children of God by name, as our hearts are filled with everything but God. And in the same vein, many men of God are liars and deceivers, agents of Lucifer and bearers of evil fruits with which they poison souls. They preach the gospel of humanism and materialism, and sing the songs of their master Lucifer. They dance to the drums of the music from hell, and live for the flesh, the world and Satan. And sadly also, many in the congregations have itchy ears that can only assimilate the things of the flesh, and are thus deaf to the call of angels and saints. But God is so good that He is readily available to those who seek Him in truth; He makes Himself available. So, be not afraid that by being alone, you may be led into error, for it is better to be alone in a desert than with a congregation of wicked spirits. You are never alone, God is closer to you than you can ever imagine, and if you do not want, you will not be unfaithful to Him while being alone.

God gave you a memory that you may know there is God and also remember His goodness. He gave you understanding that you may know and understand what is right from what is wrong. He gave you a will, freedom to choose to do what is right or wrong. So, it is your choices, the things you do or refrain from doing that define who you are with God and not necessarily the prayers you say with the words of your mouth. We are called to live in obedience, and it is our willingness to do what is right, simply because that is what pleases God, that defines our humanity. Thus, obedience is the difference between the sinner and a saint; a child and a demon, but unfortunately, many have drowned the image of God in them through sin and have become lesser than the animals and becoming beasts. They wear the garb of a man, of a Christian and of a child of God, but in reality are evil personified, dead to self and to God; enemies of the Cross and of the Victim of the Cross, angels of and slaves to Lucifer.

Know that prayer that is devoid of holiness cannot save, and that God cannot be deceived. We can deceive ourselves and others, and the men of God may deceive themselves and the flock of God, but nobody can deceive God. Many have turned from shepherds to wolves, leading souls astray and are happy for it, they will answer for it. But to each and everyone, God has offered a rope with which to climb from exile earth to paradise heaven, from sin to salvation, and the name of the rope is obedience. And being human, we all have the capacity to know and understand what the Lord demands from us in every situation and the ability to obey if we so choose. So, our willingness to obey God in His commands is the proof of our being in communion with Him and the best prayer we can offer to God while in our disobedience, we remain empty vessels, making lots of noise. Obedience is the proof of our love and better than any sacrifice, it is the wings that bear our souls up to heaven. Disobedience is the chain that drags our souls to hell to be with Lucifer and all who has disobeyed. So, obey God in His commands and you would have said all the prayers. Glory be to God the father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, now and forever, amen.

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