Pope warns against arrogant pride and despising spontaneous prayer

“The words we speak take us by the hand; in some moments they restore appetite and awaken even the sleepiest of hearts; they stir memories of forgotten feelings. And above all they are the only ones, in a sure way, that direct the questions that He wants to hear to God”.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Prayer is "dialogue with God" and spontaneous spoken prayer is an "anchor" to cling to, remembering that when the apostles who saw Jesus in silent prayer asked him how they should pray, he taught them to recite the Our Father, in which "there is everything". Therefore "do not fall into arrogant pride and do not despise spoken prayer, the prayer of the simple".

Spontaneous vocal prayer was the subject of Pope Francis general audience continuing his series of catechesis on prayer.

Speaking again from his private library he said: “Prayer is dialogue with God; and every creature, in a certain sense, 'dialogues' with God. In the human being, prayer becomes word, invocation, song, poetry ... The divine Word became flesh, and in the flesh of every man the word returns to God in prayer”.

In the Bible we learn to ensure that “everything comes to the light of the word, that nothing human is excluded, censored. Above all, pain is dangerous if it remains covered, closed inside us…. A pain closed within us, which cannot express itself, simmers, it can poison the soul: it is fatal".

“The first human prayer - Francis later said - is always a vocal recitation. Lips always move first. Although we all know that praying does not mean repeating words, yet vocal prayer is the safest and it is always possible to practice it. Feelings, however noble, are always uncertain: they come and go, abandon us and return. Not only that, even the graces of prayer are unpredictable: at some moment consolations abound, but on the darkest days they seem to evaporate completely. Prayer of the heart is mysterious and at times hidden. The prayer of the lips, the one that is whispered or recited in a choir, is always available, and necessary like manual labour.”

He continued: "we should all have the humility of certain elders who, in church, perhaps because their hearing is no longer sound, recite in a low voice the prayers they learned as children, filling the aisle with whispers. That prayer does not disturb the silence, but testifies to fidelity to the duty of prayer, practiced throughout an entire lifetime, without ever failing. These prayers of humble prayer are often the great intercessors of the parishes: they are the oaks that from year to year spread their branches, to offer shade to the greatest number of people. Only God knows when and how much their heart was united to those prayers recited: surely these people too had to face nights and moments of emptiness. But one can always remain faithful to vocal prayer. It's like an anchor."

“The words we speak take us by the hand; in some moments they restore appetite and awaken even the sleepiest of hearts; they stir memories of forgotten feelings. And above all they are the only ones, in a sure way, that direct the questions that He wants to hear to God. Jesus did not leave us in the fog. He told us: 'You, when you pray, say this!'. And he taught the prayer of the Our Father (cf. Mt 6: 9).”

Pope Francis concluded in the greeting to the Arabic-speaking faithful: "Do not be afraid if the graces of prayer seem to have vanished in a moment of darkness, rather insist on reciting even a simple Christian prayer, so that it becomes part of our breath that makes us perceive the presence of the Kingdom of God, here, among us.”