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III.- THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES SCHOOL OF PRAYER
What is the purpose of
prayer? What is to pray? What are the essential elements of
Christian prayer? We need to remember the purpose of prayer in
order to find its ways, understand its obstacles and try to
overcome them in the process of the retreat. We want to learn how
to pray. We want to share with others our experience of prayer.
During the retreat we learn how to pray, not in theory, but in
practice. Practice, like in sports, is the best way to learn how
to pray. However we need to know theories and methods of prayer,
how to overcome obstacles, not in order to teach them during the
retreat like an academic subject but to be able to understand the
problems as they arise and suggest ways to cope with them.
It is important that
we become familiar with all aspects of prayer and integrate these
methods, schools and resources into a personal experience in order
to be able to apply them as the needs arise.
THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER
The purpose of prayer is "the transformation of our hearts until
we freely wish what God desires", "to conform our will to God's
will". "These are the sons and daughters of God who are led by His
Spirit" (Rm 8:14). Only when we allow ourselves to be guided by
God's Spirit do we behave as children of God. Therefore, looking
for God's will and desires is the essential vocation of the
children of God.
But what does God want
from me at the present moment? How do I know what God wants from
me now? The will of God is revealed to us in our hearts, when we
let the Holy Spirit enlighten and strengthen us, until God's will
and desires become our will and desires too. God communicates His
will not to the mind as a plan or a command but to the heart as a
desire.
Prayer is a
transforming process, because we hear God talking to us only when
His will is reflected inside our hearts. Only when his will and
invitations are welcome and felt as our own desire, do we really
understand what God wants from us. God's wishes become our wishes.
God's feelings become our feelings. God's love becomes our love.
The goal of Christian prayer is the inner transformation that is
involved in the communication of God's wishes and will to our
desires and will.
It is important to
understand the following elements in Christian prayer:
1) prayer is not an end in itself,
2) prayer is a transforming relationship with God,
3) prayer demands a complete surrender and gift of self
to God,
4) this transformation is gradual, and
5) the final test is the maturity of our behaviour in
real life.
1) Prayer is not an
end in itself! Sometimes we think that we do not pray because
we have distractions, cannot achieve recollection, do not have
beautiful ideas, or cannot feel devotion. Christian prayer is not
a mental exercise performed in order to reach a certain goal or
experience a religious feeling. Prayer is not its own purpose. We
should not judge our prayer as poor or good simply on the basis of
the number of distractions we have avoided or the feelings we have
enjoyed.
Our task in prayer is to make ourselves "attentive" to God, the
Spirit's task to "unite" us with God. The "attention" is not an
end in itself. The end of prayer is the Spirit's action. If we
want to judge the quality of our prayer we have to ask ourselves
to what degree our hearts have been transformed and come to wish
what the Father wants and wishes. It is possible that during a dry
period of prayer, with many distractions and few feelings, God
will purify our hearts and draw us very close to Himself, while
many hours of emotional outbursts, abundant ideas or peaceful
recollection may leave our hearts untouched in their selfishness
and lack of love.
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