Prayer is at the

Heart of
Life,
Life is at the
Heart
of Prayer
 “God provides for us in
surprising ways each day, which
gives us HOPE.
Our life of prayer is what shines
the light on this hope each day. It is how
God talk to us.”
 WHAT IS PRAYER?
Prayer is God’s invitation to dedicate our
time and being to a fuller appreciation of
the divine so that our vision broadens and
our hearts expand through Love.
It is a lifelong rhythm of
listening and responding
to God’s call for conversion of heart -
personally and communally.
 Prayer lies at the
very heart of life.
It holds everything together,
it sustains every other
activity. It is at the same
time
root and fruit,
foundation and
fulfillment. Prayer can
never be set apart from the
rest of life;
 A practical and adaptable framework to an
integrated life of prayer is to center time and
being in God’s presence – in prayer, work and
community living.
 We respond, but first we listen. “Listen carefully to
the teacher’s instructions, and attend to them with
the ear of your heart.” (St. Benedict). We are to listen
like children within our hearts to what the Gospel has
to teach us.
 First of all, you must pray to God most earnestly
to bring every good work to perfection.
 We pray, and then we work, and we pray again – all
 Prayer
is an intentional offering of
time and being
for no other purpose than praise
of God.
This intentional offering is
anchored by three traditions:
liturgical prayer (the Eucharist
and Divine Office, or Work of God),
lectio divina (prayerful reading of
Scripture and other spiritual texts)
and work.
 Invitation To Pray
Prayer is a pure gift that cannot be truly
appreciated unless it is truly received.
Receiving this gift doesn’t require anything
more than a heart receptive to the Word
of God. We are called to open the door and
invite the gift that invites us to deeper union
with God.
Prayer is a time to rest in God as a
child rests in its mother’s arms. It is
a time apart to settle into hearing
God’s Word.

“Speaking and teaching are the

master’s task.
The disciple is to be
silent and listen.”
 Before any business or
conversation for the day is
conducted,
one must be immersed in
God’s Word so that it may
shape his prayer, work and
community life. He is to
listen to God – in the
spoken Word and in the
depths of his heart.
 DEDICATION TO PRAY
Nothing is to be preferred to
the Work of God” (St.
Benedict)
• Prayer is the first and last work of the
day, and what guides, sustains and
completes all other works.
• This mean consecrating – or setting apart
– a specific time and place to pray, as
well as offering short moments of prayer
throughout the day.
The life of prayer
must be intentional and
consistent, a complete
dedication of time and
being with God.
The key is to establish a
pattern and abide by it,
resisting to make
revisions to suit
momentary preferences.
When we give God our time and being before all else,
we make good use of the gift of prayer, no matter how
unappealing, difficult, or pointless it may seem at the
moment.

“Until you are convinced that prayer is the

best use of your time, you will not find the
time for prayer.”
(Fr. Hilary Ottensmeyer, O.S.B.)
As St. Paul says,APPRECIATION AND VISION
the Spirit (Rm. 8: 2-27). “comes
to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know
how to pray as we ought… The one who searches
the hearts knows what is the intention of the
Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones
according to God’s will”
Prayer permeates the day. As we digest
God’s Word in prayer, it begins to nourish and
reshape us, drawing connections with the events
and relationships in our lives. Then, guided by
the Spirit we become the Word in action.
 Time and being with God in regular
personal and liturgical prayer gradually
deepens our appreciation of the divine
presence at all times and in everything
and everyone. It sharpens our vision in
this journey toward our heavenly home
and offers us moments of grace along
the way.
 Prayer is not a relaxation technique, a
personal “wish list,” or a manufactured
experience of bliss. It is
being with God who is present to one and
all – not so we can get things we want, but so
we are conformed to Christ.
 EXPANSION
We must have a
Gospel-centered life of prayer
that is attentive to all the ways
God is present to us, so that we
become more fully present
in every aspect of our lives.
• Prayer’s aim is the “widening of
one’s vision such that one begins
to see as God sees, to love all that
God has created as God has, to
view life’s situations as God
does.” (Sr. Mary Forman)
• The hunger for God is what
nourishes all of life. It invites us to
pray because life depends on it.
 When we respond to the invitation,
and faithfully dedicate
our time and being to God,
“we shall run on the path of
God’s commands, our hearts
expanded with the
inexpressible delight of love".
 The highest good is
prayer and
conversation with
God, because it means that we
are in God’s company and in
union with Him. When light enters
our bodily eyes, our eyesight is
sharpened; when a soul is intent
on God, God’s inextinguishable
light shines into it and makes it
bright and clear. I am talking, of
The

End