The LORD sees not as man sees;
man looks on the outward appearance,
but the LORD looks on the heart.
(1 Samuel 16:7)
or on YouTube
In her many apparitions throughout the world, the Blessed Mother has repeatedly invoked us to:
Pray, pray, pray
It is a form of Hebraic superlative to create emphasis — like “holy, holy, holy.”[1]eg. Isaiah 6:3 What does it mean, though? Is Our Lady asking us to pray more rosaries? Say more Masses? More intercessory prayers, etc.? The answer, I think, is far deeper than that…
The Prayer of Intercession
There is no question that intercessory prayer is not only powerful, but of prime interest to Heaven. James tells us:
The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful. (James 5:16)
And in a rare glimpse beyond the veil, St. John records his vision of the Saints offering intercessory prayer to God:
The twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones. (Revelation 5:8)
Since Christ “is the head of the body, the Church,”[2]Colossians 1:18 we are united in what is called the “communion of saints” as we mediate for one another through the one Mediator before the Father, Jesus Christ. So the prayer of both the Church on earth and the Church in Heaven, in particular, is “powerful” when offered by the righteous. How powerful? According to Our Lady:
Through fasting and prayer, one can stop war, one can suspend the laws of nature. —Our Lady of Medjugorje (with Nihil Obstat), Fr. Rene Laurentin and Father René Lejeune, Messages and Teachings of Mary at Medjugorje, p. 188
The Prayer of Relationship
But there is something far more lasting, effective, and powerful when we approach prayer — not as a request or petition, as valuable as these are — but as relationship.
In the New Covenant, prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father who is good beyond measure, with His Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit… the life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God and in communion with him.—Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2565
Here, I am not speaking about heaping up holy words but having a literal personal relationship with Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. This is the difference between religiosity and spirituality; between mere appearances and authenticity; between rule-keeping and loving with the heart… or as Our Lady has said so often, “Prayer with the heart.” Can you talk to God as a close friend… or do you see Him as a distant, disinterested being at the ends of the universe? “Contemplative prayer in my opinion,” said St. Teresa of Avila, “is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.”[3]The Book of Her Life, 8,5 in The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, tr. K. Kavanaugh, OCD, and O. Rodriguez, OCD (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976), I,67
Do a man and woman in love whip out a poetry book to express their feelings, or do they simply profess their love in their own words, from the heart? Prayer of the heart is speaking to Christ, our Spouse, in the same way. It is coming before the Father like a small child and “spilling your guts,” so to speak. Jesus, in fact, rejects the prayers of those who merely spew words, thinking that mere sound will move God’s heart.
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. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:7-8)
Jesus then teaches the Apostles the “Our Father.”[4]Matt 6:9-15 The first word is “our”; Jesus has put us on His level of being a brother or sister. He wants us to address God like a parent, not a Prime Minister. Later, Jesus tells the Apostles:
The hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. (John 4:23)
To worship in “Spirit” is to pray with the heart — with true love and attentiveness. To pray in “truth” is to pray in honesty, acknowledging one’s sin, one’s need, and also God’s unsurpassable holiness. The gift of the Spirit known as “Fear of the Lord” is not about being terrified of the Father, but so in tune with the truth of who I am, and who I’m not, that I turn to Him in complete need and abandonment, knowing His will, then, is the absolute right course for my life. My fear is not of God, so much as it is fear of leaving His side.
The Prayer of Obedience
Part of worshipping God in Spirit and truth, then, must include the element of conversion, of conforming one’s life more and more to Christ. After all, Jesus said…
Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without Me you can do nothing… If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love. (John 15:4-5, 10)
Jesus tells us that doing His will is the foremost way to remain in His love. You see, it’s about all about love. And that’s why the greatest commandment is:
You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. (Matthew 22:37-38)
So loving God is listening to Him. Loving God is talking to Him. Loving God is being with Him and loving those whom He places in our path. And when we do this, the sap of the Holy Spirit will flow through us — through our words, our silence, our actions, our presence, even our absence — and bear fruit that lasts.
The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father’s vine which bears fruit on its branches. —CCC, 1108
It’s this fruit that Our Lady is urgently calling for: Pray, pray, pray — the prayer of intercession, relationship, and obedience.
An Invitation
If you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, it can begin today. Maybe no one has invited you to open the door of your heart to Christ, who has been knocking perhaps for years, for…
Sometimes even Catholics have lost or never had the chance to experience Christ personally: not Christ as a mere ‘paradigm’ or ‘value’, but as the living Lord, ‘the way, and the truth, and the life’. —POPE JOHN PAUL II, L’Osservatore Romano (English Edition of the Vatican Newspaper), March 24, 1993, p.3.
Invite Him again today in a prayer from the heart.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)
So grateful for your prayers and support.
Thank you!
To journey with Mark in The Now Word,
click on the banner below to subscribe.
Your email will not be shared with anyone.
Now on Telegram. Click:
Follow Mark and the daily “signs of the times” on MeWe:
