Prayer is the spiritual power of our active lives, for Jesus tells us: "I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5).
Mothers and fathers with constant demands of family life cannot be expected to spend long periods of time in prayer. Whenever possible, they must seize those moments-and they are moments-when short prayers become gems of prayer. They may express relief, thanksgiving for a favor received, or help at that moment to restrain our tempers. In prayer, God will tell us how to begin. God will teach us how to pray.
Muslims pray five times a day: 'Allah is great, there is none greater.' Their devotion edifies those of us who may protest that there is little or no time during the day for prayer.
Priests and those in consecrated life should be able to arrange their time for prolonged periods of prayer in addition to spiritual reading, praying The Liturgy of the Hours and the daily examen. The monastic vocation is largely one of spending long hours in personal and liturgical prayer.
More in The Way of Beauty
Jesus withdrew from the crowds and spent long hours in prayer with his Father. He prayed before making a decision, after apostolic work, in Gethsemane and on the cross.
Other Considerations
"My work is my prayer" holds true if there is also prayer which is not work. It is unrealistic to expect our lives to become one ceaseless act of prayer unless there are also regular times when worldly occupations are laid to one side to remain with God alone. If we do not find God in prayer, we most assuredly will not find God in others, in our work, and in the unexpected events that befall us. Prayer is the soul of any true spirituality.
Praying with the silent music of chant in the background may help one to pray, but most music tends to distract and call attention to itself.
"The Great Exchange"
As one progresses from meditation to deeper prayer, the individual speaks less and listens more. God will communicate to the individual through delicate promptings meant only for the one at prayer. Below, readers will find some scripture passages Father Dubay recommended for prayer in what he liked to call "The Great Exchange:"
Prayer transforms us into godly people. This is expressed in Ezechiel 16:14ff: "You were exceedingly beautiful with the dignity of a queen; you were renowned among the nations for your beauty perfect as it was because of my splendor which I had bestowed on you, says the Lord God. They were crude and rude; you were renowned for your beauty because of my splendor which I bestowed on you."
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This people were transformed by God. God gives a splendor that we cannot achieve ourselves except through prayer in which we are called to perfect beauty.
God's beauty is what we reflect, expressed in 2 Corinthians 3:18: "We, with our unveiled faces reflecting like a mirror the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect; this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit." We are transformed from one glory to another, i.e., in the transforming union beautifully expressed by St. Gregory of Nyssa in his Life of Moses.
We are pinnacles of God's creation expressed in Ephesians 2:10: "We are God's work of art created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning He meant us to live it."
Finally, in Ephesians 3:20, we read: "He whose power is at work in us is powerful and more than powerful to carry out his purpose beyond all our hopes and dreams."