In a world where we struggle to do a lot without access to the internet, we clearly notice when we are disconnected. Our WiFi router was down recently, which means you can't do much on your phone as the network connection in my area is poor. Working on my laptop without WiFi becomes challenging, given that so much work is stored in the "cloud", and the TV becomes useless without the internet.
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| Pretoria, 22 March 2023 |
I spent time trying to reset the router, turning it on and off, triple-checking the cables properly, and waiting on call centres listening to monotonous music with no one answering. Then I gave up and tried glancing occasionally to check if the internet light returned. Eventually, frustrated, I lost hope in trying and accepted it was not coming back. Then, 30 minutes later, to my surprise, I noticed the WiFi icon returned to my phone, and the internet was back! "Yay, the power is back", Noah and Leo shout when electricity returns after two-hour load shedding. In my case, "Yay, the internet is back".
Prayer is like a steady WiFi connection. The router could be turned on to transmit a signal, but without the internet, that signal is useless. The difference is that we can do without the internet. Still, without a connection to God, everything in our life starts to fall apart. Our creator has shaped us with His very hands, imprinting within us a reflection of himself. He created us with senses; prayer is simply using those senses to converse with Him.
A life of prayer will liberate you and give you lasting joy, not a frivolous, noisy kind of joy which can soon turn bitter, but a deeper, more lasting contentment that will truly sustain you (You See Me, You Hear Me, Fr Michael Giesler).
If prayer is simply a conversation with our creator, we need to understand who we are speaking to in our prayer. God is Our Father by the virtue of baptism, and that makes us all children of God. Jesus, who is God, came into this world as a man, making us his brothers and sisters. Jesus entered this world through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb, and so made the Holy Spirit, also God, our spouse.
All of these relationships with God are embedded in mystery. When we speak to the same God, we talk to him as one creator but with different connections. We speak to him as our Father, Sibling (and best friend) and Spouse (specifically as a bride, considering Christ is the eternal bridegroom). Obviously, this does not take away that we ultimately speak to God, but how we talk to God should be familiar to us as it is the most fundamental relationship we experience in most families.
"When you pray consistently, you not only gain a balanced perspective, you become calmer about things... So often you can worry about things like money, health, food, and clothing. Of course you need these things, but you can exaggerate their importance and even become obsessed about them. Your mind becomes clearer because of the time spent with God, and you are able to overcome feelings or emotions" (Fr Michael Giesler).
The same author of this book unpacks five qualities of prayer, and I want to expand on each to motivate why we should pray or speak to God more intimately.
1. Sincerity - Jesus knows everything about us: the good, the bad and the ugly. It's hard to fool God by pretending to hide things from him that lie deep in our hearts when he knows our hearts better than we do. Sincere means to be clean or pure. We are stained by sin, but that doesn't prevent us from being sincere. Bending our knees before God in prayer, saying here I am, this is me, defaults, weaknesses, judgemental tendencies, anger, pride, impure thoughts, and my past guilts. I lay it bare before you take it from me. Heal every inch of what I try to hold back from you because that will set me free to hear you.
2. Faith - we pray because we have hope that prayers are answered and that God hears our inner pleas. A child has faith in their parent to provide a roof over their heads, food on the table or a guarantee they will be provided protection. Our God created the universe, the very earth we call home. He has proved his existence by coming down to earth to die on the cross to open the gates of heaven and free us from sin. If God took on a human body and freely chose to accept death to free us from our sins, then our faith is no shallow belief. Indeed, God is here with us.
3. Perseverance - how often have we prayed for something, received it in God's timing, and then forgot to thank him? This usually happens because we forget the petition we have made before Our Lord, and that petition is granted over time without us realising it. God's timing is perfect. God will always give us what we ask for, provided the intention is good. Faith and perseverance are intertwined. Going to Our Lord, again and again, with the conviction that our prayers will be heard or with the hope of wanting to learn to speak with Our Lord, requires faith and perseverance. The disciples were rough men. A new series on Netflix called The Chosen does an excellent job of showing how ordinary and straightforward the disciples were. Peter was getting himself into all sorts of trouble, but when he encountered Jesus, he was not afraid to speak to Our Lord simply and plainly. We are human, meaning we are just simple and ordinary like Peter. We shouldn't be scared to talk to him as such with all our rough edges.
4. Humility - to recognise the need for prayer is best seen by Mary, who, when approached by the angel of God with a message, was taken aback with great humility, "And he came to her and said, " Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God." (Luke 1:28-30). We are dust, and to dust we will return is the recognition that we need God. He created us and will be waiting for us at the end of our time on earth. Praying on earth allows us to know him so when we meet him one day, we will not be strangers, not knowing what to say to each other.
"For us to reach God, Christ is the way; but Christ is on the Cross, and to climb up to the Cross we must have our heart free, not tied to earthly things." (The Way of the Cross, St Josemaria)
5. Forgiveness - in the Our Father, we say: "Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". Prayer is an opportunity for us to make things right. We can only receive when we are prepared to give by making things right. Letting go of hurts and pains makes us free so that we can speak to God more freely. Also, part of forgiving is being able to talk to God about those who may hurt us, and we can love them best by bringing their names to God in prayer. Repeating the very words of Our Lord, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34)
St Teresa of Avila spent 20 years of her life as a nun, not praying properly, when one day, she glanced at a picture of Jesus scourged with the crown of thorns and fell to her knees weeping and asked him to change her life. God heard her prayer and changed her life, and she wrote teachings on prayer and how to talk to God. "For prayer", she said, "is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God." She encouraged people to look upon Jesus as he is portrayed in the Gospels and to talk to Him: "This friendly conversation will not be much thinking but much loving, not many words but rather a relaxed conversation with moments of silence as there must be between friends." (Reflection from iPray with the Gospel app)
The Internet and WiFi are so normal in our everyday lives. Prayer should hold the same place. Our connection with God is uncapped and at an unlimited speed. The network is never down, slow or offline. The only constraint to the connection exists with us wanting or not wanting to choose to turn the WiFi receiver button on in the heart of our souls.
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