What is True Prayer?

"Prayer is not just spending time with God. It is partly that - but if it ends there, it is fruitless. No, prayer is dynamic. Authentic prayer changes us, unmasks us, strips us, indicates where growth is needed. Authentic prayer never leads us to complacency, but needles us, makes us uneasy at times. It leads us to true self-knowledge, to true humility."     ~  St. Theresa of Avila

 Teresa of Avila speaks from experience. In the beginning of her religious life she was pretty frivolous and gossipy. Only when she took prayer seriously and looked at her life honestly did she begin to see how superficial she was. It became a thorn in her side and she began to make changes in her lifestyle. She eventually became a great reformer of the Carmelite order and a canonized saint.

 Prayer is supposed to disturb our complacency, to make us more self-aware, as well as more aware of others. If  we stay wrapped up in our little cocoons, it is not true prayer. There are many kinds of prayer -- centering prayer, liturgical prayer, intercessory prayer, biblical prayer, the Jesus prayer, and more. When the apostles asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he gave them the "Our Father." Thomas Merton once said, "The very desire to pray is prayer." So when we find it hard to pray because of pain or depression, we might just ask the Spirit to pray in us.
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