Let us not be discouraged if, despite everything, prayer is difficult for us, if we have distractions, or if it seems that we are not gaining much fruit. Discouragement is often the greatest obstacle to persevering in prayer. Saint Teresa also recounts her struggles and difficulties: "Very many times, for several years, I was more focused on wishing that the hour I was required to spend in prayer would end and listening for when the clock would strike, than on other good things; and many times I do not know what heavy penance could have been set before me that I would not have undertaken more gladly than recollecting myself for prayer."$^{14}$
If we try to reject distractions and strive to seek the Lord of consolations rather than the consolations of God, as so many spiritual authors have pointed out, our prayer will always end up full of fruit. On many occasions it will be a great good even to lack sensible consolations, so as to seek Jesus with greater purity of intention and unite ourselves more intimately to Him. At times, this dryness experienced in prayer is not a trial from God, but the result of a lack of true interest in speaking with Him, of not having prepared the mind and heart, of a lack of generosity in keeping the imagination in check... We must know how to rectify with generosity and promptness. "In any case, for anyone who strives seriously, times will come when they seem to wander in a desert and, despite all their efforts, 'feel' nothing of God. They must know that these trials are not spared to anyone who takes prayer seriously. But one must not immediately identify this experience, common to all Christians who pray, with the mystical dark night. In any case, during those periods one must firmly strive to maintain prayer, which, although it may give the impression of a certain 'artificiaility,' is in reality something completely different: it is precisely then that prayer constitutes an expression of one's fidelity to God, in whose presence one wishes to remain even without being rewarded by any subjective consolation."$^{15}$
Now, as in the turbulent times of Saint Teresa, "much prayer is needed," for "the need is great."$^{16}$ The Church needs it, society needs it, families need it... and our soul needs it. Prayer will allow us to move forward through all difficulties and will unite us to Jesus, who awaits us every day in our work, in our family duties... but in a special way during that time we dedicate solely to Him.
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HCD