Knight of the Immaculata: April-June 2024, No. 36

Dear Knights of the Immaculata!

It is difficult to describe the benefits of prayer. "My Lord, teach me
what you want me to tell you," cried St. Margaret Mary. It is a great
grace to be able to see God first of all in prayer. This is how the saints
pray. As for us, we think of ourselves too often. The saints began with
adoration of God.

To conceive of prayer as a petition alone is not the whole truth about
prayer, but only a small part of it. Prayer, as understood by the Church and her Most Holy Sons, is not only a humble supplication to God to hear our requests, it is not only the recitation of oral formulas. Prayer is stopping and communing with God, whose main and most important task is the inner transformation of our soul, the inner transformation of our will into God's will, because this is the highest perfection of man.
 

Prayer, then, is a confidential conversation with God, similar to a conversation between a servant and a master, a disciple and a master, a child and his parents. In it we discuss with our Creator his glory, his good pleasure, and the affairs of our souls. This is the idea of prayer that Christ left us. The apostles asked Him to teach them how to pray. Our Lord said to them, "Thus shall ye pray, Our Father which art in heaven."
 

This answer indicates that in prayer we speak to God as reverent sons speak to their Father. Our Lord adds, "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, both in Heaven and on earth" in which he teaches us that the subject of conversation is primarily the glory of God.
Our Lord concludes: "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.Thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven." The second subject of this conversation is our own interest, that is, eternal happiness and the means to attain it. Prayer assures us salvation and enriches us with many merits. The required conditions include; humility, trust and perseverance. Prayer gives true fruitfulness to apostolic works. The reason for this is that without the help of grace we can do no good. Without me, says Jesus Christ, you can do nothing (Jn 15:5). Saint Maximilian Kolbe wrote: “Prayer is one of the most important elements in the work toward the conversion of souls, as conversion is a grace that must be obtained through prayer. Good meditation enlightens the soul, putting God's views in the place of worldly prejudices. It gives us the strength and courage to leave the ways of the past and enter into the ways of God as the only salutary, true and joyful way: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light".

Fr. Karl Stehlin
Warsaw, on the 22th of March,
Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary