‘Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God’
(Matt. 5:8).In Scripture the heart denotes the innermost core of our being, the centre of our yearning and longing, our desires and our fears, our generous responses and our hard-heartedness. ‘Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God’ (Matt. 5:8).

‘What is in your heart?’

The young Francis of Assisi, praying before the crucifix in the little chapel of San Damiano in Assisi, heard Christ crucified call him by name, saying: ‘Francis, go, repair my house, which, as you see, is falling completely into ruin.’ Francis, with all his abundant energy, willingly obeyed the voice and immediately set about repairing the dilapidated chapel of San Damiano. Francis’ biographers tell us that it was only later that he understood the Lord’s deeper call to build up the Church, the body of Christ, through the witness of his life and his simple and direct preaching of the gospel.

‘Francis, go, repair my house, which, as you see, is falling completely into ruin.’Francis, over and over, posed the question: ‘What is in your heart?’ We too must ask, daily: ‘Is my heart cluttered by cares and anxieties or do I come to prayer with a clean heart and a pure mind?’ Francis tells us: ‘This is what God wants above all else.’

Whether we are beginners or have been praying for many years, there will be a battle in our hearts until they are transformed totally to the likeness of Christ. If we are to begin to pray seriously, our hearts must be awakened to the love of the Father revealed through Jesus, his Beloved. How this awakening happens will vary – for one it will be by a gradual falling in love with Jesus; for another through some kind of crisis of faith; for a third, perhaps, through experiencing God’s overwhelming providence. But no matter how our hearts are awakened, we must then be attentive to the Lord’s words: ‘Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak’ (Mark 14:38).

The seed of prayer

Jesus tells us about this battle through the parable of the sower and the seed. The word of God, he tells us, is like a seed planted in our hearts. God is the sower and the word of revelation comes from him, but our hearts must be receptive to the word. The first battle of prayer is taking seriously the biblical summons to pray: ‘Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances’ (1 Thess. 5:16-18). We may ask ourselves: ‘What difference will it make if I pray or not?’ This question comes to everyone at some time. Prayer is like daily conversation in a normal home. It flows from a living relationship with our heavenly Father and with our Saviour, Jesus. Prayer is a sign of life, of love and, let it be said, of reality. The truth is that all that we have comes as gift – life, health, hopes but, most of all, the divine life within us. Prayer acknowledges that gift; prayer deepens and strengthens our relationship with God, our Creator, Redeemer and Life-giver.

Yet the battle of prayer takes place not just in how we think about prayer but in how we live. In the parable of the sower, Jesus teaches us that just as the seed depends on the various conditions of the terrain for growth, so prayer depends upon the state of our hearts. Are we committed to daily prayer? In order to pray daily, we must first make decisions about the place and time of prayer. We need to choose a quiet place, free (as far as possible) from distractions, whether it be a special corner of the house, or outside in a park, or in a church. But it should be somewhere that is available to us at the time we choose for prayer. Often the morning is the best time, since we are fresh and our minds quiet. It will take effort to establish a regular pattern of prayer. But we must not give up.

Rocky ground

Jesus tells us about this battle through the parable of the sowerOnce we begin to pray, there arise a hundred and one reasons why we have something better to do. The seed that falls on rocky ground can well apply to this universal struggle to persevere in prayer. Our prayer must be founded on our desire to love Jesus, to follow him more closely, and not on any legalistic interpretation that just wants to ‘get our prayer time in’. Such ‘devotion’ will inevitably dry up with the pressure of work or family life.

The seed that falls among thorns and gets stifled points to many of the difficulties that we experience in our modern lives. First of all there are the daily preoccupations that can tend to take over our whole existence. The mother can well say, ‘How can I pray when all my energy is taken up by the family?’; the businessman or woman can ask: ‘How is it possible to get time for prayer when I am working all hours and worn out at the end of each day?’ And yet when we make the effort to pray, even at personal cost, there is peace in our hearts. We can find to our surprise that our lives are simpler, our hearts calmer, our minds clearer: we know the presence of God.

The truths of faith

As we come into the presence of the Lord, it is wise to recall and affirm in our hearts some of the basic truths of our faith. Our deepest battle of prayer is on the level of faith. It may help to reaffirm our faith: ‘I know that God created me out of love, has cared for me and will care for me; I know that Jesus gave his life for me out of love; I know that the Holy Spirit is with me, the gift of Jesus at my baptism; I know that Jesus is interceding for me before the heavenly Father.’

Such acts of faith strengthen us, particularly in times of anxiety and discouragement. In moments of anxiety, we can trust and ask what the Lord wants us to learn. In times of discouragement, when our prayer is dry and God seems far away, we must learn, with Mary, to ‘keep all these things in our heart’, to hold fast to the basic truths that we have affirmed, and to continue to trust and pray!