Are You Praying The Right Way?
Father Jose' Calveras, was a Jesuit priest who had a reputation of teaching people how to pray. Fr. Jose' is quoted as saying:
"The key to the art of prayer is the prayer of petition. Many people never learn how to pray because they have never learned to make effective use of petitionary prayer. The hand outstretched to beg obtains what the hand pressed against ones' head to think does not."
If you have not succeeded in prayer it is not because prayer does not work. It is because you have not learned to pray well.
The first law of prayer is: FAITH
Have you noticed the habit Jesus had of saying to anyone who came to him for a favor: Do you believe I can do this? In other words, he always insisted on faith in his power to heal and cure and work miracles.
His teaching in the Bible can be summed up by saying if you believe, all things are possible. If you do not believe, I can do nothing for you.
Now, here is an important point - you yourself need not have the faith - it is enough that someone else has it for you.
- The daughter of Jairus had no faith
- As far as we know the servant of the centurion mentioned in Matt 8:15 had no faith
- Nor the paralytic of Matt 9:2-8
It was enough that the petitioner, not necessarily the beneficiary, have faith. But faith there had to be - there was no substitute for it.
In teaching his Apostles about faith Jesus said "Have faith in God. I tell you this: if anyone says to this mountain ..." You know the story. But there is an important point at the end where Jesus goes on to say "I tell you then, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." (Matt 11:20)
This law of Faith was well understood by the Apostles, who handed it on to the early Christians, and it has continued cascading down thru history, in the Bible and thru tradition, to the present day.
Jesus continues to work miracles in response to faith in our day. Believe. And expect only the best. Chapel time builds Faith.
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