A LENTEN REFLECTION ON PRAYER

The season of Lent is once again here and as is the custom in our 
Church, Christians everywhere are invited to journey with Christ 
throughout these forty days in preparation for the great celebration of 
Easter.  There are many ways to enter into this season, but one great way 
to embrace the spirit of Lent is through prayer.  Now prayer, of course, 
is not an activity that is unique to Lent, but I believe that prayer 
helps us really to embody what this season is about because of what 
prayer does to us. 

So often, I think that we look upon prayer as something that we 
do because God expects us to do it, or because God wants us to pray.  I 
remember learning long ago that prayer is a way of talking to God, and 
since talking to God helps us to develop our relationship with God, it 
only stands to reason that if we don't pray, we are neglecting our 
relationship with God and thus we are preventing ourselves from growing 
in our relationship with God.
 These are not bad reasons to pray, of course, but it strikes me 
that all these reasons put the effect of our prayer on to God.  That is, 
whether we pray or not will have a direct effect on God such that God 
will get mad, God will be offended or God will feel neglected if we don't 
pray and God will be happy if we do.
 Of course we know that God does not need our prayer, so why 
pray?  What purpose does prayer have if our prayer has no effect on God?  
Well, maybe the importance of prayer is how it effects us.  Maybe prayer, 
like every other aspect of our relationship with God, is there to be of 
benefit to us.  And I would like to suggest that what prayer does to us 
is to subtly and gently remind us that we are NOT at the center of our 
world, ultimately we are not in control and that we need God.
 Prayer can take many forms: formally structured prayer like the 
Our Father or Hail Mary, repetitive prayer like the Rosary, spontaneous, 
stream of consciousness talking to God as we walk along the quad, sung 
prayer, liturgical prayer, silent prayer, prayers of blessing, 
forgiveness, thanksgiving or praise.  However we pray, prayer always 
requires us to "move" outside of ourselves.   To pray means that we 
look to God (in praise, thanksgiving, asking for forgiveness, or 
whatever) and whether we think about it or not, prayer necessarily has 
the effect of acknowledging from deep inside ourselves that we need God.  
Each time that we pray there is a subtle yet constant Grace that changes 
us, that teaches us the humility of our utter reliance on God and that 
prepares us from deep within to let go of our desires to be in control 
and to turn everything over to God. 

To pray enriches us with this Grace.  Not to pray starves us of 
this life-giving gift and weakens us with the shallow illusion that we 
are in control. 

Lent is a season of forty days and the Grace of this season can 
change us; can teach us the humility of our sinfulness in the midst of 
the awesome reality of God's Love.  Lent is a season that can challenge 
us and deepen us  and allow us to see more clearly the priorities that 
are important in life.  It is prayer that can show us the way to knowing 
the full richness that this season offers to us