• by Fr Slavko Barbaric ofm
Prayer is an expression of our relationship with God. Therefore, a problem with prayer always reflects a problem with this relationship. One who loves God will pray with ease, and will pray more. One who loves God will commit himself to prayer with love. The more time we spend with the Lord in prayer, the more we will love him. Then we will have more time for prayer. In this way, our life is transformed into prayer.
How do we start to pray? What is the difference between the decision to pray and praying with love. These are questions which naturally evolve. The beginning of the answer to these questions can be found within the human heart.
Prayer like love, is given to us as a gift, as a seed which needs to be taken care of to enable it to grow and to develop. This care of prayer should come as naturally as a child learns to speak with its mother’s language. However, in this world life is not so aural that the gift of prayer can be naturally developed. That is the reason why God raises special people, communities or places where, in a special way, a desire for prayer can be awakened and accepted by people. That place for many in recent years has been Medjugorje and the Queen of Peace.
This awakened desire for God seeks order and regularity. It seeks a commitment; a commitment to love. When we begin to pray, we pray consciously to leave everything else behind, all work and all people. It is necessary to turn off the television and not respond to the telephone and find a quiet corner in our home in which to pray. This will help us meet God within ourselves. Very often we allow things, people, and events to pull us away from prayer, Mary, the teacher of spiritual life, seeks from us a concrete and lasting decision to pray and she promises success.
