On Prayer

First Point - Jesus Christ has attributed an infallible efficacy to prayer made in His name. Why is it then that our prayers have so little effect? It is because when we pray we are often in the state of sin. A sinner who does not desire to be converted, can not pray in the manner that Jesus Christ has taught, without contradicting and condemning himself. He asks that the name of God be hallowed and glorified, and at the same time he dishonors it. He asks that the kingdom of God might come, yet he revolts against it and allows sin to reign in his heart. He asks that the will of God be accomplished, yet he opposes it by violating God's commandments. He asks that God give him the supersubstantial bread, the bread of life, yet he eats this bread unworthily. He asks God to pardon him, yet he continues to offend God. He asks God to deliver him from his sovereign evil, which is sin, and yet he desires to continue in sin. What inconsistency! What a subject of condemnation!

Second Point - Our prayer is not efficacious because we do not ask for what is necessary. Our prayer is heard, says Saint Augustine, only in as far as we pray in the name of the Saviour. Now we can not demand in the name of our Saviour anything that is contrary to our salvation. You ask God for success in this or that unjust affair, and do you not commit a new crime when you seek to make God an accomplice in your injustice? You ask God for health and temporal goods, which He foresees will be obstacles to your salvation, because of the great attachment you will have for them, and the abuse you will make of them. God hears your prayer by refusing your request. God does not harken to your words nor does He regard your desires. You desire to be happy; those temporal goods that you demand will only render you criminal, and will consequently make you unhappy. O Lord, refuse me everything that would be an obstacle to my salvation.

Third Point - Our prayer is not efficacious because we do not pray as we should. "You ask, and receive not, be cause you ask amiss" (James 4:3). Your prayer lacks the conditions necessary to render it efficacious. You pray without devotion, without attention. You pray without respect and your prayer becomes a sin. (Psalm 108:7) May his prayer be turned to sin. Are you deserving that God hear you, when you offend Him by your manner of praying? You pray without that lively faith that the Saviour has always enjoined as a necessary condition for obtaining what is sought. "I say unto you, all things, whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive, and they shall come unto you" (Mark 11:24). Christ did not say that we shall obtain all that we ask, but all that we ask with faith. Finally, you become discouraged too easily; and the infallibility of prayer is generally attached to perseverance. If all these conditions are wanting in your prayer, you have only your self to blame that your prayer is not heard.

Examine to see which of these conditions is lacking in your prayer.

You ask, and receive not: because you ask amiss. - James 4:3

We can not ask in the name of the Saviour anything contrary to our salvation. - Saint Augustine of Hippo

- text taken from Meditations for Every Day in a Month, by Father François Nepveu