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By Fr. Roy Cimagala*
WE have to realize that prayer is the only thing necessary in our life. (cfr. Lk 10,38-42) We need it more than we need air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink. And that’s simply because it is our basic and indispensable way to keep in touch with God which is what is most important in our life.
Let’s remember that our life is supposed to be a life with and in God always, since we have been created in his image and likeness, children of his, and sharers of his divine life, not only in heaven in our definitive state, but also while here on earth.
It does not mean that just because we always have to pray, we do nothing other than pray and that we should not get involved in our temporal and earthly affairs. Let’s never forget that God has placed us in the world to test us, if what he wants us to be is also what we want to be for ourselves, that is, to be children of his.
We should therefore be actively involved in our temporal and earthly affairs, but doing so by converting everything in these affairs into some form of prayer, into some form of engaging ourselves with God.
To be sure, this is possible and doable, because praying does not even need a bodily organ for it to be done. It is a spiritual operation that can transcend the use of our bodily faculties. It’s a matter of attitude, of belief, which we can always have even if it is not expressly articulated.
As such, it can be done in any situation—while we are working, playing, resting, etc. But it would be good that we spend some time doing nothing other than praying, directly engaging God in a loving conversation, because that would help us to be prayerful in all our other activities and situations in life.
Thus, we have to be ready to do some vocal prayers and mental prayer. These are exercises that can build and fuel our life of prayer. With them, we engage God in a more direct way, and in a more loving way, giving him due worship and adoration.
Besides, those moments of vocal prayer and mental prayer would be good moments to thank God for everything we have received, and also to ask for pardon for the mistakes and sins we have committed, as well as to ask for favors that we need.
But in our present human condition, we need to fight to be able to pray. We need to struggle. We have to exert great and abiding effort to convert everything we do into prayer. That’s because as our catechism puts it, we should pray as we live because we can only live properly as we pray. (cfr. Compendium 572)
The forces of good and evil are always in conflict not so much in some places outside or war arenas somewhere, as in our very own heart. The combat is more internal than external, more spiritual and moral than material and physical.
Besides, the battle of contention starts in some little matters, not in big issues, that are not promptly attended to and are made to fester for a while until they become a crisis or a conflagration.
We need to be always on guard, and the best way to do that is to pray, to be in constant conversation with God, our Father, whose wisdom and omnipotence he is willing to share with us, his children, created in his image and likeness.
* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
