And when you pray, do
not use many words, like the Gentiles, who imagine that because of their
loquacity they will be heard, the Lord tells us in the Gospel of the
Mass.1 He wants to turn his disciples away from the mistaken view of
many Jews of his time, who thought that long vocal prayers were
necessary for God to hear them; and he teaches them to treat God with
the simplicity with which a son speaks to his father. Vocal prayer is
very pleasing to God, but it must be true prayer-the words must express
the feeling of the heart. It is not enough to recite mere formulas, for
God does not want a worship that is only external, he wants our
intimacy.
Vocal prayer is a simple
and effective means, indispensable, suitable to our way of being, to
maintain God's presence during the day, to manifest our love and our
needs. As we read in the same Gospel of the Mass, Our Lord wanted to
leave us the vocal prayer par excellence, the Lord's Prayer, in which,
in a few words, he summarizes everything that man can ask of God.
Throughout the centuries this prayer has gone up to God, filling
countless souls with hope and consolation in the most varied situations
and moments.
Neglecting vocal prayer
would mean a great impoverishment of the spiritual life. On the
contrary, when these prayers, sometimes very short but full of love, are
appreciated, the path of contemplation of God in the midst of work or
in the street is made much easier. "We begin with vocal prayers, which
many of us have repeated as children: they are ardent and simple
phrases, addressed to God and his Mother, who is our Mother. Still, in
the mornings and afternoons, not one day do I usually renew the offering
that my parents taught me: O my Lady, O my Mother, I offer myself
entirely to you. And, in proof of my filial affection, I consecrate to
you on this day my eyes, my ears, my tongue, my heart... Is this not -
in some way - a principle of contemplation, an evident demonstration of
trusting abandonment? (...).
"And St. Teresa, like
all the saints, knew well this path accessible to all to reach our Lord:
"I know," said the saint, "that many people, praying vocally..., are
raised up by God, without knowing how, in contemplation.
Let us think today of
the interest we take in our vocal prayers, of their frequency throughout
the day, of the pauses necessary so that what we say to our Lord is not
"mere words that come after one another. Let us see to it that every
ejaculatory prayer, every vocal prayer, is an act of love.
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