QUOTATION: Prayer

I think we look for excuses not to pray and not to ponder. We can find them by the droves. But we don't have any excuse.

--Mother Angelica

QUOTATION: Prayer

Without prolonged moments of adoration, of prayerful encounter with the word, of sincere conversation with the Lord, our work easily becomes meaningless; we lose energy as a result of weariness and difficulties, and our fervour dies out. The Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer, and to my great joy groups devoted to prayer and intercession, the prayerful reading of God’s word and the perpetual adoration of the Eucharist are growing at every level of ecclesial life. Even so, “we must reject the temptation to offer a privatized and individualistic spirituality which ill accords with the demands of charity, to say nothing of the implications of the incarnation”. There is always the risk that some moments of prayer can become an excuse for not offering one’s life in mission; a privatized lifestyle can lead Christians to take refuge in some false forms of spirituality.

--Pope Francis Evangelii Gaudium #262, November 24, 2013.

QUOTATION: Learning to Pray

A most excellent means of learning how to pray? Acknowledge that we are unworthy to pray, and so place our efforts entirely in the hands of the Lord.

--St. Philip Neri

QUOTATION: Prayer

All the saints were saved, and came to be saints by praying; all the accursed souls in hell were lost through neglect of prayer; if they had prayed, it is certain that they would not have been lost. And this will be one of the greatest occasions of their anguish in hell, the thought that they might have saved themselves so easily; that they had only to beg God to help them, but that now the time is past when this could avail them.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, A Short Treatise on Prayer

QUOTATION: Persistence in Prayer

Never give up prayer, and should you find dryness and difficulty, persevere in it for this very reason. God often desires to see what love your soul has, and love is not tried by ease and satisfaction.

--St. John of the Cross

QUOTATION: Why Prayer?

Say not, But where is the need of disclosing to God all my wants, if he already sees and knows them better than I ? True, he knows them; but God makes as if he knew not the necessities about which you do not speak to him, and for which you seek not his aid. Our Saviour knew well that Lazarus was dead, and yet he made as if he knew it not, until the Magdalene had told him of it, and then he comforted her by raising her brother to life again.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Way of Salvation and Perfection

QUOTATION: Prayer and Penance

It is impossible to find a Saint who did not take the “two P’s” seriously: prayer and penance.

--St.Francis Xavier

QUOTATION: Tell God Everything

Never, then, forget his sweet presence, as do the greater part of men. Speak to him as often as you can; for he does not grow weary of this nor disdain it, as do the lords of the earth. If you love him, you will not be at a loss what to say to him. Tell him all that occurs to you about yourself and your affairs, as you would tell it to a dear friend. Look not upon him as a haughty sovereign, who will only converse with the great, and on great matters. He, our God, delights to abase himself to converse with us, loves to have us communicate to him our smallest, our most daily concerns. He loves you as much, and has as much care for you, as if he had none others to think of but yourself. He is as entirely devoted to your interests as though the only end of his providence were to succor you, of his almighty power to aid you, of his mercy and goodness to take pity on you, to do you good, and gain by the delicate touches of his kindness your confidence and love. Manifest, then, to him freely all your state of mind, and pray to him to guide you to accomplish perfectly his holy will. And let all your desires and plans be simply bent to discover his good pleasure, and do what is agreeable to his divine heart : Commit thy way to the Lord: l and desire of Him to direct thy ways, and that all thy counsels may abide in Him. [Tobit. 4:20]

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Way of Salvation and Perfection

QUOTATION: Confidence in God

The greater and more persistent your confidence in God, the more abundantly you will receive what you ask.

--St. Albert the Great

QUOTATION: Advice for Politicians

Someone asked me what advice I had for politicians. I don’t like to get involved in politics, but my answer just popped out, “They should spend time on their knees. I think that would help them to become statesmen.”

--Mother Teresa of Calcutta, No Greater Love

QUOTATION: Prayer

For the person who loves Jesus, prayer, even prayer without consolation, is the sweetness that puts an end to all sorrow: he goes to pray, eagerly, like a child going to the sugar-bowl after a bitter dose of medicine.

--St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, 889

QUOTATION: Prayer

If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you.

--Mother Teresa of Calcutta, No Greater Love.

QUOTATION: Prayer

Our prayers should be burning words coming forth from the furnace of hearts filled with love.

--Mother Teresa of Calcutta, No Greater Love

QUOTATION: Prayer

If you want to pray better, you must pray more.

--Mother Teresa of Calcutta, No Greater Love

QUOTATION: How Prayer Can Solve Your Doubt

I will give, for the sake of illustration, some instances in detail of one particular fault of mind, which among others a habit of prayer is calculated to cure.

For instance; many a man seems to have no grasp at all of doctrinal truth. He cannot get himself to think it of importance what a man believes, and what not. He tries to do so; for a time he does; he does for a time think that a certain faith is necessary for salvation, that certain doctrines are to be put forth and maintained in charity to the souls of men. Yet though he thinks so one day, he changes the next; he holds the truth, and then lets it go again. He is filled with doubts; suddenly the question crosses him, "Is it possible that such and such a doctrine is necessary?" and he relapses into an uncomfortable sceptical state, out of which there is no outlet. Reasonings do not convince him; he cannot be convinced; he has no grasp of truth. Why? Because the next world is not a reality to him; it only exists in his mind in the form of certain conclusions from certain reasonings. It is but an inference; and never can be more, never can be present to his mind, until he acts, instead of arguing. Let him but act as if the next world were before him; let him but give himself to such devotional exercises as we ought to observe in the presence of an Almighty, All-holy, and All-merciful God, and it will be a rare case indeed if his difficulties do not vanish.

--Blessed John Henry Newman, “Moral Effects of Communion with God”, Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. 4

QUOTATION: Prayer

Perfect prayer does not consist in many words, but in the fervour of the desire which raises the heart to Jesus.

--Mother Teresa of Calcutta, No Greater Love

QUOTATION: When You Can't Pray

When we cannot pray-- let us give that inability to Him... Let Him pray in us to the Father. Let us ask Him to pray in us, for no one knows the Father better than He. No one can pray better than Jesus. 

--Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Where There is Love, There is God, Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., Ed

QUOTATION: Prayer

We do not have to talk very much in order to pray well.  We know that God is there in his holy tabernacle; let us open our hearts to him; let us rejoice in his presence: this is the best prayer.

--St. Jean Vianney, the Curé of Ars

QUOTATION: Prayer

I guarantee you that after you die you will not say 'I spent too much time praying; I wish I had watched more TV instead.

--Peter Kreeft, Prayer for Beginners

QUOTATION: The Spiritual Life

A spiritual life without prayer is like the Gospel without Christ.

--Henri Nouwen