Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11, 1-4

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”

Never give up praying

1. A certain place. Prayer is so important! That’s why you must never cease to look for the moment and the place, that are totally yours, even when you do not feel anything, or it seems that you are just sitting there. Prayer is not only constantly talking, but mainly listening, and God speaks in the silence. Let him act in your heart. There are times when we forget that prayer is so essential. If you look at Jesus’s life you’ll find He spent a lot of time praying – Jesus himself gives us an example of how vital prayer is.

2. Teach us. There are two types of prayer: active prayer and silent or mental. Active prayer is the one that’s carried out in everyday life. It’s talking to God when you are studying and offering your study; it’s praying to God when you are putting the pot on the kitchen stove for the noodles. “Your work must become a personal prayer, a real conversation with Our Father in heaven,” St. Josemaría used to say. He would often talk to God while reading the newspaper and entrust all the things that were going on to Him. We must strive to turn our daily activities into prayer. 

And silent or mental prayer is taking a moment to be alone with God, to talk and listen to Him. This implies turning off your cell phone and just looking at Him, seeking silence and finding oneself and God in that silence. If you find it difficult you can repeat aspirations, something short like “ I trust in you” or “ I am all yours” and repeat it several times.  One could say ‘the first one – active prayer – is more comfortable for me.’ Well, the truth is we all need both. The key is to pray, so that your prayer becomes part of your life, and your life becomes prayer.

3. Praying in times of dryness. When you’re going through a period of spiritual dryness, you don’t feel like anything, that is when I always suggest that you say a prayer a saint has composed or a prayer in the Church’s devotional that identifies what is happening to you.

I’d like to share with you Saint Charles de Foucauld’s prayer of abandonment, that I pray in times of spiritual dryness:

Father,
I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you
with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.
Amen.

Never forget that something good is on the way! God bless you and guard you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.