Pope: Prayer allows the Spirit to change our hearts

Pope: Prayer allows the Spirit to change our hearts

Vatican news

Pope Francis writes the preface to the book “As Jesus taught us: the prayer of the pilgrims of hope” (Edizioni San Paolo), which will be published on Wednesday October 9. The text is a collection of the pope’s reflections on prayer, some previously unpublished.

By Pope Francis

I learned to pray from my grandmother. It was she who taught me to pray and who also instilled in me a devotion to Saint Joseph. Then, the spiritual fathers I had, both in the seminary and in the Society of Jesus, helped me grow in my experience of prayer.

Among them, I would like to cite Father Miguel Angel Fiorito, Argentine Jesuit, professor of philosophy, but also passionate about spirituality. His works are now also published in Italy: a great spiritual master who taught me to grow in my way of praying. He offered many courses on spirituality. He taught me to pray like a son and not to look for “sweets” of consolation: How is prayer done? How to get used to praying? What should we do when there is consolation, even desolation, when we don’t want to pray? He was a teacher of spiritual life for me. Over time, my prayer training has remained the same.

Even as Pope, nothing has changed: I pray as I always have, with the same rhythm. Sometimes I say vocal prayers, sometimes before the Blessed Sacrament, I endure moments of dryness. My prayer continues through beautiful things and less beautiful things. Sometimes I think I need to pray more, that’s true. I don’t have time, but I need to pray more. I always stick to the Liturgy of the Hours; I never abandon it: in the afternoon, Vespers; later, the Office of Readings; in the morning, Lauds; and then mass. And then there is mental prayer, meditation prayer; when I have some time, I try to have a conversation and ask the Lord something, but I’m afraid he will answer…

And then there is the Our Father, the Jesus prayer. It has everything! When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, he did not call on a catechist to instruct them in prayer methodology or a specialist in the art of prayer. He said: “Say this: Our Father” (cf. Luke 11:2). The Our Father is the universal prayer, the children’s prayer, the prayer of trust, the prayer of courage, but also the prayer of resignation. This is the great prayer.

And there are prayers to Mary: I also have great confidence in the Madonna; I always pray the Rosary. I like to feel her close because she is a Mother and she guides us. There is a very beautiful story, which is of course a legend, which tells us how Our Lady saves everyone! This is the story of Our Lady of Thieves, protector of thieves. They steal, but because they pray to her, when one of them dies, Our Lady, who is at the window of heaven, beckons him to hide. She tells him not to go to Pierre, who won’t let him in. But in the evening, she opens the window of Paradise and lets him enter through it. I like this: Notre-Dame is the one who lets you in through the window. It’s almost like contraband. Like in Cana. The Lord did not have the freedom to say no. She is like that with her son. That’s how it is: pleading omnipotence.

It is also because of this confidence that at the end of my public speeches, I always ask people to pray for me. I need the community to support me in this service of the Church. If the Church doesn’t support you in prayer, it’s over. The community must support its bishop and the bishop must pray for the community.

Prayer opens the heart to the Lord and when the Spirit enters, it changes your life from the inside out. This is why we must pray: to open the heart and make room for the Spirit. We pray to Jesus, the Father and Our Lady, but we do not often converse in prayer with the Holy Spirit. Yet it is the Holy Spirit who changes our heart, enters into our heart and transforms it. The Father does not anoint us; the Son does not anoint us. It is the Spirit who anoints us with his presence, and it is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that helps me understand the reality of the Church and the mystery of God.

This is a functional translation.

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