Prayer

There is nothing the devil fears so much, or so much tries to hinder, as prayer.

—St. Philip Neri

For many years, I wrongly credited yoga as the source of peace in my life. It turned out to be prayer, the easiest and most effective way to find true peace. You might call it a best-kept secret.

What Is Prayer?

Prayer is oxygen for the soul. Just as our bodies need oxygen to live, our souls need prayer. We often overcomplicate it, but prayer is simply a conversation with God. Mother Angelica, EWTN’s late foundress, put it well: we don’t need instruction on how to speak to a friend—it comes naturally. It should be the same with God.

Any good conversation involves listening and speaking, and as my brother used to say, a phone works both ways. One-sided conversations, like one-sided relationships, never last. It can be easy to speak to Jesus but harder to listen. If you are not sure how to begin, start a gratitude journal and thank Him for your blessings. Go to Him as you are, not as you think He wants you to be; and go to Him first, not last. We should be careful not to turn to God only when we need something; He deserves (and desires) more than just our requests. God hears and responds to every single prayer. And while His answer may not be what we want, it is always what we need.

A great book on prayer is Brother Lawrence’s classic, The Practice of the Presence of God. It teaches us to make prayer a holy habit. When we stay in constant conversation with God and welcome Him into every aspect of our daily life, we remain mindful of His loving presence and focused on something greater than ourselves. This is in contrast to yoga, which teaches us to stay focused on ourselves.

Satan is the ruler of the world and will use anything to distract you from growing closer to God. A daily prayer habit fosters the most important relationship in our life. Prayer will satisfy your spiritual hunger; it will change your life. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said her secret was simple, “I pray. Praying to Christ is loving Him.” And let’s face it, the world could use more Mother Teresas.

Pope St. John Paul II captures the beauty of this relationship:

“It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.”

Difference between Christian Prayer and Yoga Meditation

Yoga meditation is self-focused (egocentric) and one-sided, whereas Christian prayer is God-focused (Christocentric) and two-sided. Yoga meditation is an Eastern technique that strives for fusion, which dissolves identity, instead of communion, which preserves identity. Yoga meditation leads one to believe they become divine themselves, so they would not need God. Himalayan Institute spiritual head Pandit Rajmani Tigunait explains, “Yoga does not teach us to lean on God or to use God as an escape.” Rather, it fosters what Bishop Robert Barron calls the “tendency to cling to godliness rather than to surrender to God.” It causes a soul to become empty. As Fr. Matthias Scheeben warns, when one “wishes to be like God and to make himself another god, it is precisely then that he falls back into his nothingness.”

The Rosary

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

—Luke 1:42

Although the Church offers many forms of prayer, outside of the liturgy of the Mass there is none more powerful than the Rosary. The Rosary is said to be the Bible on beads. It is a meditative prayer rooted in Scripture that walks us through the mysteries of Jesus’ life. Mary was the model disciple who knew Jesus best. Her fiat (yes) brought God to the world. Because her womb carried Jesus, the Son of God, she became God’s dwelling place—the new tabernacle or “Holy of Holies.” Remember, Jesus gave us Mary as our Mother. She can intercede for us, as she did at the Wedding Feast in Cana when Jesus performed His first miracle. As a spiritual mother, she desires we cooperate with her Son. Mary’s intimate connection to Jesus is worthy of our deepest respect, and the Rosary is the perfect way to honor her and grow closer to her Son.

St. Louis de Montfort said, “All true children of God have God for their father and Mary for their mother; anyone who does not have Mary for his mother does not have God for His father.” I once heard it said that all good priests have a devotion to Mary. Even Muslims join us in honoring Mary’s feast of the Assumption on August 15.

Marian devotion is powerful, and miracles attributed to the Rosary abound. They are worth checking out. Many of the saints had a profound devotion to the Rosary, calling it the:

• “weapon for these times” — Padre Pio

• “greatest method of praying” — St. Francis de Sales

• “best artillery against demons and their followers” — St. Dominic

• “most powerful weapon to touch the Heart of Jesus” — St. Louis de Montfort

• “storehouse of countless blessings” — Bl. Alan de la Roche

• “scourge of the devil” — Pope Adrian VI

There is IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and the more contemporary EQ (Emotional Quotient), but I would venture to say that our SQ (Spiritual Quotient) is equally important. Christian spirituality places God at the center of our lives to make us strong and healthy. It gives our lives more meaning and purpose than yoga ever could. It takes hard work and commitment but is undoubtedly worth it.