15. Talk to God like a little child
-Many times,
Father, I've heard you talk about the value and the power of prayer. I was
impressed when you said that, of all the virtues it is the only one that, when
done correctly, can very easily bring Divine Grace to our soul. You also said
that Satan fears it very much because it burns him and destroys his evil
powers! Therefore, I would like to ask you, if possible, to tell me more about
it and help me learn how to correctly pray to our Lord.
-The fathers of our
Holy Church, my child, named prayer the queen of virtues! And do you know why?
Because by itself it has the power to
unite a soul with its Creator! All other virtues simply help a soul to
ascend to the throne of God. Prayer, however, when made with faith and humility, has the power to put you in the arms of
God and help you experience, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, the infinite
motherly love with which your
heavenly Father adores you! Through prayer you can also feel His infinite compassion for you and how much He wants
to hold you like a child in His loving fatherly heart! Through prayer,
every time you will ask forgiveness for your mistakes, He will bend down with
much adoration and love, to tell you
that He forgives you and how He wants you to become His small earthly angel!
Through prayer you become one with your
beloved God the Father, since you give Him the pleasure of holding you
tightly in His arms and listening to the voice of His beloved child. Prayer, my
child, is the most sacred moment for
each person, since only with this can a
man be worthy to speak with his almighty Father and the Creator of the whole
universe. Prayer is the quickest path that leads you directly to God's
kingdom, which is why all the Saints loved prayer more than any other virtue.
-With all that you
have told me, my reverend father, you made me to even more want the virtue of
prayer. That is why I would be very grateful if you would help me to learn how
to pray and to what I should pay attention to in my prayer, so that is pleasing
to our good God and not a reason to hurt Him like the Pharisee of the parable.
-Indeed, my child,
while prayer is the most perfect way and path for someone to be close to God,
when it is done in the wrong way, it is the reason to enrage the compassionate heart
of God and to provoke the joy of the demons. That is why it is very important
to know some things, which are the secret of proper prayer.
-I am impatient,
Father, to learn the secret of proper prayer!
-Remember, my
child, that three things are the necessary basis for a proper prayer which will
unite you with your almighty Father and Creator. Without these three things
prayer is simply a narration of certain prayers, which, however, do not invite
Divine Grace. On the contrary, many times, they can cause God's sorrow and the
derision of demons.
-What are these
three things?
-First, we must be humble and not criticize anyone. That is, not to
pray like the Pharisee, with pride and feelings of superiority or a critical
attitude and contempt for other people. The
critical attitude we have towards others, easily making comments and
criticizing them, does not allow our prayer to ascend to the throne of God. God refuses to hear the prayer of a selfish
and envious man who criticizes his fellowman. The terrible passions of
hatred, envy, jealousy, ruthlessness, malice and malevolence, that is to
rejoice at the misfortune of your fellowman, do not allow the prayer to act
positively on his soul, as they have their roots in human selfishness. On the
contrary, they cause God's judgment and make the demons rejoice for the soul's
misery. God does not listen to, and even more doesn't hold in His arms, someone
who criticizes his fellowman. Only God has the right to judge. Demons can very
easily conquer a soul and make it subservient, when it serves this cursed sin
of condemnation with selfishness and audacity.
-I understand, my
reverend father, how terrible it is for someone to pray with selfishness, envy,
jealousy, and condemnation and instead of divine compassion it provokes the
righteousness of God! From today on I will beg God to give me humility and
love, so that my prayer may be heard and pleasing.
-Well, since you
have understood how important it is to pray with humility of heart to your heavenly Father, we will now learn
what the second thing is that makes a prayer strong, pleasing to God and
destructive to the evil designs of demons.
-I can't wait to
learn it, my reverend father!
-Secondly then, the prayer must be done with faith and trust in God. It is
important to firmly believe that God your Father loves and adores you, and He is for you the real Father and Mother of
your soul. As your Father, He is always there for you, to listen to
you, to whatever you may say to Him. So that's why you should never doubt that
He hears you. And do not believe the devil, when he tells you that you are so
sinful, that God does not deign to listen to you. God never despises any of His
children, no matter how sinful he is, when he humbly lifts his eyes to heaven,
to talk to his heavenly Father.
-Father, does God satisfy every man's
desire, when he is praying?
-God, my child, is
behaving towards humans as a sweet mother or a loving father are behaving. When
we ask for something that is right and good, then He allows it. When, however,
He sees that what is asked for is not only incorrect, but will harm us in the
future, He does not allow it. Many times man asks for things that are worthless
and don't bring true joy and happiness. They are satisfying his vanity and
complacency more and less, if at all, the salvation of his soul. Of course,
there are some cases when His child insists, He consents and fulfills his will,
even though that will be fateful for him some day.
-Why, though, does
He do this father, knowing that it will harm him in the future?
-He does it to prove to us by experience
that it is better and more correct in our lives to trust more our loving Heavenly Father and less, or not at all, our
own logic. But now you have to learn the third and final thing that makes
prayer perfect and divine.
-I can't wait to
learn!
-The third, and most essential, my
child, is to talk to our Lord with
simplicity and adoration, which a small child has towards his parents! Then
the words of the prayer should come from the heart and not from the mouth, and
you will ask the Holy Spirit only for God's love and not for futile and
meaningless demands. This is, my child, the most beautiful secret in our
relationship with God. From today on you will pray like this. Talking to your
heavenly Father, as a small child, who is lying with total trust in His
fatherly and motherly embrace. Like a child who completely trusts the judgment
of his father and tells him: "Father, give me whatever you want, because
only You know what is best for me. I only want to love and adore You and to do
what is pleasing to Your holy Will." That's why when you pray to God you
should use the phrase "my Heavenly
Father." It is very nice to enclose yourself like a baby in the arms
of your Heavenly Father and there, honestly and with childish simplicity, to
talk to Him about everything that you have in your mind and in your heart;
about good, but also about bad things. For the joys in your life, but also for
the mistakes you made. For the first ones to thank Him and for the latter to
ask for forgiveness because you hurt Him. Mostly, though, to tell Him about the
great love hiding in your heart for Him. It is what will make God hold you
tightly in His arms and fill you with the gifts of His love.
-Bless me, my
reverend father, so I can pray to my sweet God like this from today on!