Andrew Donnelly, O.Carm.
(The First Part of a translation and adaptation of Father Daniel of the Virgin Mary's De Kunst der Kunsten.)
I. Value and Profits
1. No human tongue can fully voice the great dignity and benefit of prayer. St. John Damascene, speaking of the excellence of prayer, describes it as “the elevation of the soul towards God in order to converse familiarly with Him.” St. Gregory of Nicea writes: “Prayer is a union of the soul with God and a conversation with Him concerning its beatitude and perfection.”
To be on familiar terms with the princes and great ones of the earth is preferred by many to riches and worldly pleasures. What a great honour is it, then, to have familiar conversation with God, the King of kings! This alone should be enough to engender in us a great love of prayer, for he who prays speaks with God and converses with Him. And prayer is so agreeable to God that Holy Scripture compares it to the offerings and incense which the angels bear before the throne of God. As soon as prayer comes from the lips of man the angels are present to receive it and offer it to God, as the angel Raphael affirmed when he said to Tobias: When thou didst -Pray with tears I offered thy prayer to the Lord (Tob. 12, 12).
2. Such is the efficaciousness of prayer that it opens the heavens, retards the sun in its course, raises the dead and overcomes our enemies. The prophet Elias, a man like ourselves, prayed that it might not rain upon the earth, in punishment for the sins of the children of Israel, and it rained not for three years and six months. He prayed again and the heavens opened and the earth brought forth her fruits (James 5, 19). Josue stopped the sun by his prayers until he had defeated his enemies. Elias raised a dead child to life through his prayers.
The apostles and many others did likewise. By their prayers they raised the dead, gave health to the sick, and performed many other miracles. When the city of Messina was besieged by King Robert of Naples, the people were first fed and then liberated through the prayers of St. Albert. Miracles such as these have been very frequent in the course of centuries, moving some to exclaim that prayer is almighty.
3. The saints are unanimous in their teaching concerning the profit and necessity of prayer, but before all we have the example of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Before He began His public ministry He prayed and fasted in the desert for forty days. Later, during the time of His preaching, He frequently passed the night praying in some solitary place. He did this especially before undertaking some important work, as when He chose His apostles, or before His holy passion. By His words He commended prayer highly to us: Ask, He says, and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened (Luke 11, 9). So that we might understand this more easily, He repeated it in different words : Watch ye and pray that ye enter not into temptation (Matt. 26, 41), and again, We ought always .to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18, 1).
4. Following this example and teaching of their Master, many saints passed nights lost motionless in prayer. St. Anthony, for example, began to pray in the evening when the sun was setting, persevering in it until sunrise the following morning. The night passed so swiftly for him that he complained of the sun, because by its exterior lights and beams it prevented him from enjoying the interior light which he experienced while praying. Many saints retired to the solitude of the wilderness in order to converse the more fervently with God. And as we may read in their lives, others such as Bernard, Ignatius, Teresa and Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi so applied themselves to prayer that they seemed to live through and because of it.
