PRAYER IS NOT A TECHNIQUE

 

PRAYER IS NOT A TECHNIQUE,  BUT A RELATIONSHIP

 

Most of us find it almost impossible not to think of prayer as a special activity in life:  an art that can be taught or learned rather as we can learn to play a musical instrument.   Because of this, some of us are quick to feel we are proficient, others that we are painfully handicapped,  are missing out on some secret or have some lack in our nature which makes prayer difficult if not impossible for us.   We feel there are certain laws governing prayer, and techniques to be mastered, and, when we have got hold of these, we can pray.

 

Thus we tend to look around for the guru,  for the one who has mastered the art and its techniques, and eagerly look to be taught.   When we take up a book or article on prayer,  we shall probably detect, if we stop to think, that we are looking for the key,  the magic formula that is going to put our prayer right, enable us "to make a go" of this mysterious activity called prayer.   We may feel that others seem to take it in their stride but somehow it does not work for us, and anxiously we look hither and thither for someone who will hand us the secret.

 

All this is proof enough that we are overlooking the fundamental fact:  that  prayer is not a technique but a relationship.   There is no handicap,  no obstacle,  no problem.  The only problem is that we do not want God.   We may want a "spiritual life,"  we may want "prayer,"  but we do not want God.  All anyone can do for us, any guru can teach us, is to keep our eyes on Jesus.

 

(This reflection is by  Sr. Ruth Burrows  and appears in her work:   Essence of Prayer.  It appears in the October 30th reflection in GIVE US THIS DAY,  a monthly missalette from Liturgical Press,  www.giveusthisday.org.   Sr. Ruth is a Carmelite nun at Quidenham Monastery in Norfolk, England, and is the author of several best-selling books on spirituality and prayer.)