Welcome to the Holy Season of Lent once again!

We are already in the third week. This week, let us dive deeper into prayer, one of the core pillars of this season. In Josemaría Escrivá’s book, The Way, he says about prayer thus: “Your interior life has to be just that: to begin…and to begin again” (The Way, 292). While prayer comes somewhat easy for some, for many people, it is quite challenging.

 At times, the most difficult part of prayer is the beginning, especially for those who have not prayed as much; it is the difficulties with the initial stages. For those who already know how to pray, it is simply the act of beginning again. For those who are consistent in prayer, many times find themselves spontaneously praying all through the day in their hearts with no particular order.

The period of Lent provides us with an opportunity to pray more and cultivate a habit of constant communication with God. There are various ways to do this. First, you may decide to be consistent with praying the Angelus and Divine Mercy prayer during this period or it could be that you pray on the hour or have a short prayer such as “Jesus I Trust in you” repeated in your heart all through the day. You may also decide to seek the intercession of various saints all through lent or read books about the life of the saints to boost your faith or aspire to sainthood. The point is that, there are numerous ways to grow in prayer, or cultivate a consistent habit of prayer in this Holy season.

Prayer as Jesus taught us in Matthew 6:7-15, “…In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them…” and the passage goes on to Jesus teaching his disciples the Lord’s Prayer. What this tells us is that, praying does not have to be technical. We do not need to shout. While emotions and pressing demands could make one scream and shout in prayers, these are not really ingredients that make our prayers answered as taught by Jesus. The passage goes on “if you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you, but if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.” Forgiveness and repentance are thus central to a good prayer life and to Lent. So, during this period, it is important to let go and let God in our lives by forgiving wrongs and repenting of our wrongs. A good way to do this is to avail ourselves of the sacrament of reconciliation.

 

May we have a spiritually refreshing Lenten Season.