I don’t think there is any doubt that all of us run into problems with prayer at one time or another in our life times. The spiritual writers refer to it sometimes as “the dark night of the soul.” Others refer to it as the “winter of our spiritual lives.” Many people have confessed that they are distracted during prayer, that their minds wander from their purpose and find themselves thinking about all manner of things that have nothing to do with prayer. To be sure, this is nothing new. Remember in the Gospels that the disciples themselves said to Jesus: “Teach us how to pray.” This question was not asked out of idle curiosity. Each of us finds it difficult to pray at one time or another.
Some people have related their experience to me that betrays a common misunderstanding about prayer. They tell me that they thought that they would have time to pray when they are no longer active or when they find themselves unable to work because of illness. However, when they become ill or when they encounter a life-altering disability, they then find that they cannot pray because their minds are occupied with their health needs or are distracted by pain. Prayer is never easy; it is even harder when one is unwell.
In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul tells us: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings (Romans 8:26). When I read this passage, a great weight is lifted. God knows our difficulty in prayer. God supplies in our difficulty in prayer. When we have difficulty in prayer, we can rely on the Holy Spirit to fill in for us. When we are weak or ill, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. I don’t read this as the Holy Spirit including us in prayer. Rather, I read it as the Holy Spirit taking our place and offering the prayer that we are unable to offer.
St. Clare of Assisi is quoted as having said that the desire to pray is in itself a prayer. If this is the case, then even in the dark night or winter of the soul, we can look forward to dawn and/or spring when we will find our prayerful voice and offer God our praise, our thanks, our contrition, and our intercessions.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator