Vernon Khelawan
We are now at the mid stage of this year’s Lenten season and maybe it is a good time to look back at how we have done regarding the resolutions we made on Ash Wednesday—whether they were denying ourselves of things we like or whether we planned to do a few things we are not in the habit of doing.
Whichever route we took to do something special for Lent, it should have been accompanied with prayer, and if we did not pay special attention to this side of our spirituality, then this might be the perfect juncture to jump on the prayer wagon.
A decision to pay more attention to prayer could result in people becoming more prayerful and continuing way past the Easter season, eventually getting totally wrapped up in prayerful submission.
In his book The Power of Prayer, author E M Bounds writes, “We go to church by habit and come home all too glad when the benediction is pronounced. We say our prayers by rote and we are not sorry when the amen is uttered.”
That is a position in which many people find themselves quite often and this is not because they want to, but because they have not learnt the art of prayer. Romans 8:26-27 says, “We do not know how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in speech. He who searches hearts what the Spirit means, for the Spirit intercedes for the saints as God himself wills.”
St Paul’s advice on prayer in the above passage, according to Sr Kathryn J Hermes F S, “clears away the clutter of method, mellows our striving to do it right and takes away the stress. We can’t really pray as we ought. So what are we to do? Let the Holy Spirit within us pray in our place.”
Terri Mifek wrote, “One thing I have learned about prayer is that if you remain faithful to it, the day will come when it becomes not just dry, but even distasteful. Moments of consolation are replaced by boredom and a half hour prayer session seems like an eternity. Through the ages the giants of prayer have reassured us that as long as we have remained faithful to the practice of prayer, this is a normal step in the spiritual journey and must simply be lived through.”
Sr Kathryn also wrote, “When I could not pray, God himself had come to take up residence within me and to pray. The Spirit kept watch over me, replacing my weakness with the strength of his love. The Spirit’s intercession for me matched the desire that sprang from God’s own heart and so were immediately answered though they remained a secret from me.”
Prayer, therefore, as part of your Lenten package can do great things for your spirituality and now, in the middle of Lent, it might just be beneficial to think about making prayer a way of your daily living. Accomplishing the art of praying could make a tremendous difference to your life and it was simply because you wanted to add something to your Lenten resolutions.
And according to Sr Kathryn, “Too often perhaps we get in our own way when we pray. Maybe we need to stop trying so hard and allow God to pray within us according to the desire of his heart.”
Vernon Khelawan is media relations officer of Catholic Media Services Ltd (Camsel), the official communications arm of the Archdiocese of Port-of-Spain. Its offices are at 31 Independence Square. Telephone: 623-7620