"The Church not ceased" (continued)

When we learn to approach God with an intensity of desire such as to hug our soul, then we will experience a power in prayer that many of us today ignore. But how to reach this ardor ? By trying to elevate ourselves by our own efforts ? No ! The true method is emphasized in Romans : "In the same way the Spirit also helps in our weakness. Indeed, we do not know what to ask in our prayers, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs that words can not express" (Romans 8:26).

The ardor we strive to produce in the energy of the flesh has a repulsive effect. But the ardor produced in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, on the contrary, is pleasing to God. So we will say, once again, that if we want to pray in the right way, we must expect the Spirit of God to teach us to pray.

This is the place to talk about fasting. If we want to pray with power, we must join fasting with prayer. This does not mean, of course, that we should fast every time we pray. But it is, in work as in private life, critical moments and exceptional circumstances, where truly fervent men refuse even the satisfaction of natural appetites, satisfaction perfectly justified in other circumstances, to be able to indulge entirely to prayer. There is a special power in such a way of praying.

Every important event in life or service should be confronted in this way. There is nothing that can please God in renouncing pleasant things in a purely pharisaic and legalistic spirit. But it is none the less real that there is power in this genuine fervor and in this firm determination to obtain in prayer those things which we urgently feel the need for. This leads us to leave aside all things, even the most legitimate and necessary ones, in order to turn our face to God to meet him and obtain blessings from him.

Jeremy Sourdril