Life in the Spirit (4)

Regarding the significance of prayer, we also have the example of Jesus:

In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house and went off to a lonely place and prayed there. (Mark 1:35)

…he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to Bethsaida, while he himself sent the crowd away. After saying goodbye to them he went off into the hills to pray. (Mark 6:45-46)

Now it was about this time that he went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. (Luke 6:12)

Fr. Jacques Philippe also makes this profound assessment:

Without a life of prayer even the sacraments will have only a limited effect... because the “good soil” it needs is missing. Why, for instance, are so many people who receive Communion frequently not more holy?  Because it is not being received with an attitude of faith, love, adoration, and total receptivity—an attitude that can only be created by fidelity to mental prayer. 

So, if you only get one insight from this series, let it be this, which St. Faustina says came from our Lord: “one thing alone is necessary, to set ajar the door of our heart.”  We do that with prayer.

Again, prayer is the “one thing necessary” for Life in the Spirit.

In Christ, Ken