How We Pray

Our relationship with God involves our whole life, but it finds a particular expression in prayer. As changes take place in how we experience ourselves, there will be adjustments in how we relate to God too. An experience of God’s love can lead to a changed relationship with God and, in turn, a change in our prayer and our sense of self. 

If our image of ourselves changes, then our image of God will change, too, as will our prayer; and we will relate differently to others as well. All these elements are interconnected and influence each other. Noticing what is happening in us facilitates movement in response to the action of the Lord. Prayer that is ‘real’ and linked with life will help open the doors to change, or will help us to notice what gets in its way. It will take the main focus off ourselves and how we have to be, or how we should be in prayer and in life. Time is necessary if we are to break the notion that some day ‘I will get it right’. We continue to acknowledge our need of God, so that we can let God lead.

Saying prayers is not the same as praying. Over time, God’s desires can become more central in our prayer, with a diminishing focus on the self. Bringing the real issues of life to prayer involves an opening to change in all the relationships considered here –with self, God and others. By noting change in how we experience God, or in our sense of self as made in God’s image, or in prayer itself, we are invited to make the link between them. This opens up the wider dimension of these relationships and the richness contained in them. The link between prayer and life becomes more obvious.
Michael Drennan SJ, See God Act: The Ministry of Spiritual Direction