Pope Francis has declared 2024 the Year of Prayer, prompting reflection on the importance of prayer in Christian life.
Prayer should be as natural to the Christian as breathing, for it is to our spiritual life what breathing is to our physical bodies.
In other words, prayer is the lifeblood of our relationship with God and without it, that relationship dies.
Prayer is both personal and communal, formal and informal.
Both are necessary as they complement each other—without personal prayer, communal prayer becomes lifeless and routine, and without communal prayer, personal prayer risks falling into morbid self-obsession.
Traditionally, the Maronites maintained a healthy balance of both communal and personal prayer, as their communities developed from the life and practices of hermits and monks.
St Maroun, a hermit in the Syrian desert during the late fourth and early fifth centuries, exemplified this balance.
Both forms of prayer are central to Maronite culture and spirituality which are centred around the Divine Liturgy and the Mother of God—who is the model of prayer.
This is the first of two articles in which I will focus on personal prayer. By personal prayer, I do not mean a few words recited before sleep but deep and sincere prayer, flowing from a heart that yearns for God like a deer yearns for running streams (Psalm 42:1).
Many Eastern Fathers referred to this as prayer of the heart. Why the heart? In Biblical and early monastic spirituality, the heart is the deepest and most authentic part of the human being.
Both the Old and New Testaments command us to “love God with all our heart” (Mark 12:30; Deuteronomy 6:5).
Jesus taught that only the pure in heart will see God (Matthew 5:8) and that all evil springs from the heart (Matthew 15:19).
These scriptures show that the heart is where one encounters both the demonic and the divine.
It is the ground where the spiritual battle unfolds, and where, amid that battle, one experiences God’s presence, grace, and mercy.
So how do you enter the heart? First, follow Jesus’ command to “repent and believe the Good News.”
Repentance means turning away from thoughts and actions that do not lead to loving union with God.
It is not a one-time act but a daily practice, as we uncover deeper layers of our soul needing conversion and healing.
St Antony, the father of monasticism, said, “Every day I begin again.” Each day, we are like the repentant prodigal son returning to the compassionate embrace of the Father.
Next, believe the Good News—the unconditional and infinite love of God, revealed in Christ’s death for us “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8).
This love is the rich soil in which the tree of prayer grows and bears fruit and the foundation of the entire spiritual life.
A life of prayer built on anything other than God’s unconditional love is like building on sand (Matthew 7:24-27).
Prayer is the opening of one’s heart to receive, through faith, this unconditional love of God.
It is opening one’s heart in all its poverty to be filled with the utter fullness of God. In short, prayer of the heart is receiving the gift that God is eternally offering—his son.
By Fr Ron Hassarati, a priest of the Maronite Eparchy of Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.
Article originally published in The Catholic Weekly here.
