Thomas Mathew Vattakunnel
I recently met the 10-year old son of a relative. When I asked him about family prayers, he glanced at me with a surprised look. "There's no regular prayer in the family... it happens once in a fortnight or a month," he said.
That set me thinking. This kid's dad and mom follow a sedentary lifestyle and spent at least 3-4 hours in front of the television set. Or in simple words, they are couch potatoes. There's no time for prayers even for 2 minutes.
For a Christian, prayer is something that can't be ignored. If we don't keep our communication channel with God open all the time, that means we are inviting satan, the master of all evils.
Unfortunately, the practice of daily prayers is on the decline in Christian families across the world. In many Catholic families which used to say 'Rosary' without fail several years ago, that practice has stopped. The number of people who are engaged in daily personal prayer has come down. This can also be called anthropological reduction. As Pope Benedict once said, "from the union between a materialistic view of man and the great development of technology an anthropology that is essentially atheist has emerged. It presupposes that the man is reduced to autonomous functions, the mind to the brain, human history to a destiny of self-realization."
I can say confidently that a prayer-less society is a big tool in the hands of devil. This charlatan, or master manipulator, can take you for a ride if you are not in a perennial state of prayer.
Pope Francis said last week, "it is in fact prayer which helps us not to allow ourselves to be defeated by evil, nor to accept violence and hate prevailing over dialogue and reconciliation." He also cited the example of Virgin Mary, and of her silent prayer.
Most important of all, you get God's message when you are constantly in prayer. When you communicate with God, you hear God's words. This can turn out to be very important, and a life-changing exercise. Your will get the messages from the Holy Spirit -- on what to do and what not to do. When you pray, that will add to your sanctification. You get more wisdom from God.
We don't need to make a formal or structured prayer. Prayer should be like speaking face-to-face with a friend, that too without fear, freely and also with insistence, Pope Francis said recently. The best example is Moses who argued with God and convinced Him in the mountain. The sad part is that most of us don't do it, and end up doing some ineffective forms of spirituality. Prayer must also be "a negotiation with God, presenting arguments" supporting one's position. We should be like Moses: talk to God, argue with Him and convince Him. Pray like Moses did, face-to-face with the Lord, like a friend, freely, with insistence and good arguments, the pope said. "And also scold the Lord a little: 'Hey, you promised me this, and you haven't done it ...' Like that, like you talk with a friend."
I wrote about the Moses incident in my previous article on prayer 2-3 months ago. If you look at the way Christians conduct themselves across the world, it's clear that the entire Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer. Saying words and nothing more is not prayer. One has to know how to "'negotiate' with God, as Moses did, by reminding God through argumentation of his relationship with his people". Moses sought to 'convince' God' that if he were to unleash his wrath against his people, he would disgrace himself before all the Egyptians".
Please open your heart wide to Jesus and get to know him better.
(The writer is a mechanical engineer based in Qatar)
I recently met the 10-year old son of a relative. When I asked him about family prayers, he glanced at me with a surprised look. "There's no regular prayer in the family... it happens once in a fortnight or a month," he said.
That set me thinking. This kid's dad and mom follow a sedentary lifestyle and spent at least 3-4 hours in front of the television set. Or in simple words, they are couch potatoes. There's no time for prayers even for 2 minutes.
For a Christian, prayer is something that can't be ignored. If we don't keep our communication channel with God open all the time, that means we are inviting satan, the master of all evils.
Unfortunately, the practice of daily prayers is on the decline in Christian families across the world. In many Catholic families which used to say 'Rosary' without fail several years ago, that practice has stopped. The number of people who are engaged in daily personal prayer has come down. This can also be called anthropological reduction. As Pope Benedict once said, "from the union between a materialistic view of man and the great development of technology an anthropology that is essentially atheist has emerged. It presupposes that the man is reduced to autonomous functions, the mind to the brain, human history to a destiny of self-realization."
I can say confidently that a prayer-less society is a big tool in the hands of devil. This charlatan, or master manipulator, can take you for a ride if you are not in a perennial state of prayer.
Pope Francis said last week, "it is in fact prayer which helps us not to allow ourselves to be defeated by evil, nor to accept violence and hate prevailing over dialogue and reconciliation." He also cited the example of Virgin Mary, and of her silent prayer.
Most important of all, you get God's message when you are constantly in prayer. When you communicate with God, you hear God's words. This can turn out to be very important, and a life-changing exercise. Your will get the messages from the Holy Spirit -- on what to do and what not to do. When you pray, that will add to your sanctification. You get more wisdom from God.
We don't need to make a formal or structured prayer. Prayer should be like speaking face-to-face with a friend, that too without fear, freely and also with insistence, Pope Francis said recently. The best example is Moses who argued with God and convinced Him in the mountain. The sad part is that most of us don't do it, and end up doing some ineffective forms of spirituality. Prayer must also be "a negotiation with God, presenting arguments" supporting one's position. We should be like Moses: talk to God, argue with Him and convince Him. Pray like Moses did, face-to-face with the Lord, like a friend, freely, with insistence and good arguments, the pope said. "And also scold the Lord a little: 'Hey, you promised me this, and you haven't done it ...' Like that, like you talk with a friend."
I wrote about the Moses incident in my previous article on prayer 2-3 months ago. If you look at the way Christians conduct themselves across the world, it's clear that the entire Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer. Saying words and nothing more is not prayer. One has to know how to "'negotiate' with God, as Moses did, by reminding God through argumentation of his relationship with his people". Moses sought to 'convince' God' that if he were to unleash his wrath against his people, he would disgrace himself before all the Egyptians".
Please open your heart wide to Jesus and get to know him better.
(The writer is a mechanical engineer based in Qatar)
