“I learned how much we need perseverance in prayer and that our salvation often depends on such difficult prayer” (St. Faustina - Diary 157)

When We Pray

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, when speaking about prayer, has a really wonderful sentence which says that, “prayer is our response to the God, who has already entered the reality of our existence”. In other words, when we pray, we are responding to God’s loving invite, which is being continually offered to us. 

He is Communicating with us

This is so re-assuring as it means we don’t have to try to gain God’s attention or make Him look in our direction.

We don’t even have to perform wonderful works to get Him to communicate with us. He is always, at all times, communicating with us.  He loves us. 

God is Waiting for you

Imagine for a moment that the God we believe in craves our attention and waits patiently for us, to still our hearts, and turn to Him with trust. Imagine that God craves your attention right now. God loves us completely with a perfectly merciful love.

Set Time Aside for Him

It is us that need to respond to His love; to fall in love with the One who loves us first. This takes time, perseverance and patience.

What is important in prayer is consistency; that is time set aside each day. It makes sense. Just think about our human relationships. Time spent regularly with someone we love bears much more fruit than inconsistent time spent with them. If you want your relationship to grow with another person, it needs time and commitment.

Persistence is vitally important in prayer

What is a good time during the day for you to pray?

Make a point of setting some time each day to communicate with your loving God. If you find yourself very busy every day and don’t have the energy late at night to pray, then each morning, set your alarm clock for 20 minutes earlier and spend that time in prayer. If you feel tired and don’t feel like praying, then pray! Persistence is vitally important in prayer. 

Prayer is the Key to God’s Heart

Padre Pio said, “Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is the key to God's heart. You must speak to Jesus not only with your lips, but with your heart. In fact on certain occasions you should only speak to Him with your heart.”

Prayer is the soul’s life blood. St Faustina tells us that this persistence and perseverance will save our souls.  This doesn’t just mean salvation at the end of our lives. It means that each and every day will be saved, will be transformed; will be filled with joy because each and every day will be dedicated to the one who loved us first.  Make the commitment to regular prayer now.  Pray to God for the strength to persevere!