Photo: © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk
There are as many reasons to pray as there are people. But as one of the world’s best-loved Christian writers explains, all are different ways of responding to an invitation from God
Why pray? Let me suggest the first reason: God wants to be in a relationship with you. How can you know this? Because you want to pray. And how do I know that? Because you’re reading this.
That may sound sarcastic, but it’s not. There’s a serious point here: your desire for prayer reveals something about how God created you. Deep within you is a natural desire to communicate with God, to share yourself with God, to have God hear your voice, or, more basically, to encounter God. Deep within you is a longing to be in a relationship with God. So you long to pray.
You may doubt many things when it comes to prayer. You may doubt that you’ll be able to pray. You may doubt that God wants to communicate with you. You may even doubt God’s existence. But you cannot doubt that you feel a desire for prayer. After all, you’re reading this. So clearly something within you desires prayer.
Where does the desire for prayer come from? From God. The most common way God draws you closer is by placing within you the desire to be closer, the desire that drove you to think about prayer and to read this article. Strange as it sounds, your reading of these lines at this moment is a sign of God’s call.
How else would God draw us closer, other than by planting a longing inside us? Once I saw a ceramic plaque in a retreat house that summed this up: “That which you seek is causing you to seek.”
This insight is helpful to those beginning their journey of prayer because it helps them feel, even before they’ve started to pray, connected to God. It helps them to know that God has taken the initiative, that God is calling to them, that God desires them. It helps people take the first tentative steps toward God.
Many of us have felt that there is more to life than what we know. We feel a sense of incompletion. We long to feel complete, to be connected, to be satisfied, to know. Inside us are nagging feelings of longing, restlessness, and incompletion that can be fulfilled only in a relationship with God. There is a hole in our hearts that only God can fill. Augustine put it best when he wrote: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord. And our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
Your desire to pray is a sign that God desires you. It’s an indication God is calling you. And that is perhaps the most important reason to pray. Not simply because you desire it, but because the desire is a sign of something else. You desire to pray because God desires it.
A second reason for prayer is a slight reframing of this. We pray because we want to be in relationship to God. That may sound obvious – of course we pray to be closer to God. But it’s important to state that the aim of prayer is not simply physical relaxation, mindfulness, knowledge, or a connection to creation, as important as those things are. These are goals that many people mention when speaking about meditation. But the goal of prayer is closer union with God.
More basically, we pray because we love God. William Barry SJ writes: “The primary motive for prayer is love, first the love of God for us and then the arousal of our love for God.” We pray to come to know God as well. “Who is God?” is an important question in the spiritual life. So are “Who is God for me?” and “Who am I before God?”
Prayer reminds us of our need for God. It reminds us that we are not the centre of the universe and that we are not God. Sometimes when things are going well, we can grow arrogant and complacent in our self-sufficiency. Prayer, which places us in the presence of God in an intentional way, reminds us of who is in charge, or rather who is nurturing us. Gerard W. Hughes writes in God of Surprises: “To begin prayer it is sufficient to acknowledge that I am not self-sufficient, that I am not the creator of myself and creation. If I can do this, then I acknowledge that there is some power – I may not know whether it is personal or not and may be in complete ignorance of its nature – greater than I.”
This inevitably moves us to humility, as we realise more and more our need for God. Thomas Merton went further, saying that prayer is inseparable from humility. Humility, he said, “makes us realise that the very depths of our being and life are meaningful and real only in so far as they are oriented toward God as their source and their end.”
A third reason is that we have to. If you’re not used to praying, that may sound ridiculous, but once you start, you’ll see that it can feel as natural as breathing. Our innate desire for God means we naturally crave a relationship with God. Prayer is an outgrowth of the human longing for the divine. In a sense, we can’t not pray, because prayer is part of being human.
There are other reasons that prayer feels necessary. In the face of your problems, how can you not ask for help from your Creator? I’ve never met anyone who felt that his or her life was free of problems. So we pray for a fourth reason: we are in need.
A fifth reason is that prayer helps us. This may sound selfish, but it’s another common motivation, similar to reasons for doing physical exercise. If you never get off the couch, you’ll end up out of shape, and that will influence your overall physical condition; less exercise means more pulled muscles, perilous cardiovascular health, and greater stress. Not praying – not spending intentional time with God – means your spiritual life will be out of shape, even flabby, and that will influence the rest of your life. You’ll probably be less grateful and thus more irritable, less connected to the deepest part of yourself and thus more scattered, less aware of your reliance on God and thus more frightened. Prayer helps you.
On the rare days that I don’t pray I feel off balance. And I always know why. Certainly I feel guilty that I’ve not spent time with God in an intentional way, but I also feel, to put it bluntly, worse. I’m more irritable, more distracted, less patient, and less able to maintain perspective on life. Even when prayer feels “dry” it helps me feel more connected to the centre of my being, which is God. Being centered in that way always means more perspective, because you know where you stand.
Prayer is also a way to unburden ourselves when we’re feeling sad, angry, stressed or frustrated. That’s a sixth reason. Often, after you have told God your problems, you feel less alone. God is always with you, but praying in this way is a great aid nonetheless. Sometimes I’ve stood up from prayer and said: “At least I know that God knows how I feel.”
A seventh reason for prayer is that it helps us praise God. If you’re a believer, you may wonder about the best way to express your gratitude. You can do good works, live a moral life, and help your fellow human beings. Those are fine ways to show your love in gratitude. As Ignatius Loyola says: “Love ought to show itself in deeds more than words.” But it’s just as important to say “thank you” to God. Prayer is one way of doing this. Simply resting in things you’re grateful for is a way of giving thanks.
Prayer, however, is not a solitary act. This leads us to an eighth reason: solidarity. When we pray we are, consciously or unconsciously, expressing a connection to our brothers and sisters who also pray – even if they’re not physically with us. Prayer in common is an essential aspect of the spiritual life. As social animals, we naturally find comfort and support in groups. Praising God in a group makes double sense: we naturally want to do it, and we naturally want to do it with others. Both are part of being human.
Whenever we pray, we are united with believers across the world who are lifting their hearts and minds to God. We are also united with those who have gone before us, who continue their prayers before God. This is one part of what Catholics mean by the “communion of saints”.
A ninth reason: we pray to be transformed. This is somewhat different from praying to God for help – but it’s related. Knowing that we are flawed and imperfect, many of us look to God to help us grow into better people. This is not to say that we are all terrible sinners or irredeemable reprobates. Rather, we are all human beings in need of God’s grace.
In my own life, that desire manifests itself especially during prayer. If I do something sinful, I am filled with a remorse that becomes more obvious when I spend time with God. A few years ago, I did something selfish that affected a friend. In my prayer the next day I saw how uncharitable it was and was moved to seek out my friend and apologise. I was also reminded of my need for God’s grace and my desire for more charity. We might also become aware not of one particular sin, but of a general pattern in our lives, a place where we are unfree. We may ask for freedom from this in prayer.
There is a kind of petitionary prayer here too, but of a different nature. “Help me to be a better person, God” might be called a prayer of transformation.
Not long ago, I had been praying that God would change me in a particular way, and not much seemed to be happening. Then, suddenly, it was discovered that I would need some minor surgery. Lying in the hospital bed a few weeks later, tethered by tubes to various machines, I started to think about all the things I was hoping to change in my life: my flaws and failings, all the things I hoped God would change or eradicate. As I enumerated the things that were distracting me from being the person I wanted to become, they began to seem in a word, ridiculous. In other words, I saw the emptiness of whatever was moving me away from God.
During those days I felt God saying to me in prayer: “What kind of life do you want to lead?” It was not so much a matter of waiting for God to change me or remove my flaws; God was telling me that the change was largely up to me. It was a transformational moment, as it seemed to offer me freedom and reminded me of my own agency in life. Transformation is another reason for prayer.
That short list of reasons why people pray is by no means complete. There are as many reasons to pray as there are people. For now, let’s say that there are many reasons to pray, chief among them that God is calling to you. It’s as if God is saying: “Would you like to spend some time with me?”
Why not say yes?
That may sound sarcastic, but it’s not. There’s a serious point here: your desire for prayer reveals something about how God created you. Deep within you is a natural desire to communicate with God, to share yourself with God, to have God hear your voice, or, more basically, to encounter God. Deep within you is a longing to be in a relationship with God. So you long to pray.
You may doubt many things when it comes to prayer. You may doubt that you’ll be able to pray. You may doubt that God wants to communicate with you. You may even doubt God’s existence. But you cannot doubt that you feel a desire for prayer. After all, you’re reading this. So clearly something within you desires prayer.
Where does the desire for prayer come from? From God. The most common way God draws you closer is by placing within you the desire to be closer, the desire that drove you to think about prayer and to read this article. Strange as it sounds, your reading of these lines at this moment is a sign of God’s call.
How else would God draw us closer, other than by planting a longing inside us? Once I saw a ceramic plaque in a retreat house that summed this up: “That which you seek is causing you to seek.”
This insight is helpful to those beginning their journey of prayer because it helps them feel, even before they’ve started to pray, connected to God. It helps them to know that God has taken the initiative, that God is calling to them, that God desires them. It helps people take the first tentative steps toward God.
Many of us have felt that there is more to life than what we know. We feel a sense of incompletion. We long to feel complete, to be connected, to be satisfied, to know. Inside us are nagging feelings of longing, restlessness, and incompletion that can be fulfilled only in a relationship with God. There is a hole in our hearts that only God can fill. Augustine put it best when he wrote: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord. And our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
Your desire to pray is a sign that God desires you. It’s an indication God is calling you. And that is perhaps the most important reason to pray. Not simply because you desire it, but because the desire is a sign of something else. You desire to pray because God desires it.
A second reason for prayer is a slight reframing of this. We pray because we want to be in relationship to God. That may sound obvious – of course we pray to be closer to God. But it’s important to state that the aim of prayer is not simply physical relaxation, mindfulness, knowledge, or a connection to creation, as important as those things are. These are goals that many people mention when speaking about meditation. But the goal of prayer is closer union with God.
More basically, we pray because we love God. William Barry SJ writes: “The primary motive for prayer is love, first the love of God for us and then the arousal of our love for God.” We pray to come to know God as well. “Who is God?” is an important question in the spiritual life. So are “Who is God for me?” and “Who am I before God?”
Prayer reminds us of our need for God. It reminds us that we are not the centre of the universe and that we are not God. Sometimes when things are going well, we can grow arrogant and complacent in our self-sufficiency. Prayer, which places us in the presence of God in an intentional way, reminds us of who is in charge, or rather who is nurturing us. Gerard W. Hughes writes in God of Surprises: “To begin prayer it is sufficient to acknowledge that I am not self-sufficient, that I am not the creator of myself and creation. If I can do this, then I acknowledge that there is some power – I may not know whether it is personal or not and may be in complete ignorance of its nature – greater than I.”
This inevitably moves us to humility, as we realise more and more our need for God. Thomas Merton went further, saying that prayer is inseparable from humility. Humility, he said, “makes us realise that the very depths of our being and life are meaningful and real only in so far as they are oriented toward God as their source and their end.”
A third reason is that we have to. If you’re not used to praying, that may sound ridiculous, but once you start, you’ll see that it can feel as natural as breathing. Our innate desire for God means we naturally crave a relationship with God. Prayer is an outgrowth of the human longing for the divine. In a sense, we can’t not pray, because prayer is part of being human.
There are other reasons that prayer feels necessary. In the face of your problems, how can you not ask for help from your Creator? I’ve never met anyone who felt that his or her life was free of problems. So we pray for a fourth reason: we are in need.
A fifth reason is that prayer helps us. This may sound selfish, but it’s another common motivation, similar to reasons for doing physical exercise. If you never get off the couch, you’ll end up out of shape, and that will influence your overall physical condition; less exercise means more pulled muscles, perilous cardiovascular health, and greater stress. Not praying – not spending intentional time with God – means your spiritual life will be out of shape, even flabby, and that will influence the rest of your life. You’ll probably be less grateful and thus more irritable, less connected to the deepest part of yourself and thus more scattered, less aware of your reliance on God and thus more frightened. Prayer helps you.
On the rare days that I don’t pray I feel off balance. And I always know why. Certainly I feel guilty that I’ve not spent time with God in an intentional way, but I also feel, to put it bluntly, worse. I’m more irritable, more distracted, less patient, and less able to maintain perspective on life. Even when prayer feels “dry” it helps me feel more connected to the centre of my being, which is God. Being centered in that way always means more perspective, because you know where you stand.
Prayer is also a way to unburden ourselves when we’re feeling sad, angry, stressed or frustrated. That’s a sixth reason. Often, after you have told God your problems, you feel less alone. God is always with you, but praying in this way is a great aid nonetheless. Sometimes I’ve stood up from prayer and said: “At least I know that God knows how I feel.”
A seventh reason for prayer is that it helps us praise God. If you’re a believer, you may wonder about the best way to express your gratitude. You can do good works, live a moral life, and help your fellow human beings. Those are fine ways to show your love in gratitude. As Ignatius Loyola says: “Love ought to show itself in deeds more than words.” But it’s just as important to say “thank you” to God. Prayer is one way of doing this. Simply resting in things you’re grateful for is a way of giving thanks.
Prayer, however, is not a solitary act. This leads us to an eighth reason: solidarity. When we pray we are, consciously or unconsciously, expressing a connection to our brothers and sisters who also pray – even if they’re not physically with us. Prayer in common is an essential aspect of the spiritual life. As social animals, we naturally find comfort and support in groups. Praising God in a group makes double sense: we naturally want to do it, and we naturally want to do it with others. Both are part of being human.
Whenever we pray, we are united with believers across the world who are lifting their hearts and minds to God. We are also united with those who have gone before us, who continue their prayers before God. This is one part of what Catholics mean by the “communion of saints”.
A ninth reason: we pray to be transformed. This is somewhat different from praying to God for help – but it’s related. Knowing that we are flawed and imperfect, many of us look to God to help us grow into better people. This is not to say that we are all terrible sinners or irredeemable reprobates. Rather, we are all human beings in need of God’s grace.
In my own life, that desire manifests itself especially during prayer. If I do something sinful, I am filled with a remorse that becomes more obvious when I spend time with God. A few years ago, I did something selfish that affected a friend. In my prayer the next day I saw how uncharitable it was and was moved to seek out my friend and apologise. I was also reminded of my need for God’s grace and my desire for more charity. We might also become aware not of one particular sin, but of a general pattern in our lives, a place where we are unfree. We may ask for freedom from this in prayer.
There is a kind of petitionary prayer here too, but of a different nature. “Help me to be a better person, God” might be called a prayer of transformation.
Not long ago, I had been praying that God would change me in a particular way, and not much seemed to be happening. Then, suddenly, it was discovered that I would need some minor surgery. Lying in the hospital bed a few weeks later, tethered by tubes to various machines, I started to think about all the things I was hoping to change in my life: my flaws and failings, all the things I hoped God would change or eradicate. As I enumerated the things that were distracting me from being the person I wanted to become, they began to seem in a word, ridiculous. In other words, I saw the emptiness of whatever was moving me away from God.
During those days I felt God saying to me in prayer: “What kind of life do you want to lead?” It was not so much a matter of waiting for God to change me or remove my flaws; God was telling me that the change was largely up to me. It was a transformational moment, as it seemed to offer me freedom and reminded me of my own agency in life. Transformation is another reason for prayer.
That short list of reasons why people pray is by no means complete. There are as many reasons to pray as there are people. For now, let’s say that there are many reasons to pray, chief among them that God is calling to you. It’s as if God is saying: “Would you like to spend some time with me?”
Why not say yes?
• Adapted from Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone
James Martin SJ is editor at large of America magazine, consultor to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, and author of numerous books, including The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything.
04 DE FEBRERO DEL 2021, THE TABLET
Nueve razones para rezar
por James Martin
Hay tantas razones para rezar como personas. Pero como explica uno de los escritores cristianos más queridos del mundo, todas son formas diferentes de responder a una invitación de Dios.
¿Por qué rezar? Permíteme sugerirte la primera razón: Dios quiere tener una relación contigo. ¿Cómo puedes saber esto? Porque quieres rezar. ¿Y cómo lo sé? Porque estás leyendo esto.
Eso puede sonar sarcástico, pero no lo es. Aquí hay un punto serio: tu deseo de oración revela algo sobre cómo Dios te creó. En lo profundo de usted hay un deseo natural de comunicarse con Dios, de compartirse con Dios, de que Dios escuche su voz o, más básicamente, de encontrar a Dios. En lo profundo de ti hay un anhelo de tener una relación con Dios. Así que anhelas rezar.
Puede dudar de muchas cosas cuando se trata de la oración. Puede dudar de que podrá orar. Puede dudar de que Dios quiera comunicarse con usted. Incluso puede dudar de la existencia de Dios. Pero no puedes dudar de que sientes un deseo de oración. Después de todo, estás leyendo esto. Así que claramente algo dentro de ti desea la oración.
¿De dónde viene el deseo de oración? De Dios. La forma más común en que Dios te acerca es colocando en ti el deseo de estar más cerca, el deseo que te llevó a pensar en la oración y a leer este artículo. Por extraño que parezca, su lectura de estas líneas en este momento es una señal del llamado de Dios.
¿De qué otra manera Dios nos acercaría más que plantando un anhelo dentro de nosotros? Una vez vi una placa de cerámica en una casa de retiro que resumía esto: "Lo que buscas te hace buscar".
Esta idea es útil para quienes comienzan su jornada de oración porque les ayuda a sentirse, incluso antes de comenzar a orar, conectados con Dios. Les ayuda a saber que Dios ha tomado la iniciativa, que Dios los está llamando, que Dios los desea. Ayuda a las personas a dar los primeros pasos tentativos hacia Dios.
Muchos de nosotros hemos sentido que hay más en la vida de lo que sabemos. Sentimos una sensación de incompletitud. Anhelamos sentirnos completos, estar conectados, estar satisfechos, saber. Dentro de nosotros hay sentimientos persistentes de anhelo, inquietud e incompetencia que solo pueden satisfacerse en una relación con Dios. Hay un agujero en nuestro corazón que solo Dios puede llenar. Agustín lo expresó mejor cuando escribió: “Nos has hecho para ti, oh Señor. Y nuestro corazón está inquieto hasta que descanse en ti ".
Tu deseo de orar es una señal de que Dios te desea. Es una indicación de que Dios te está llamando. Y esa es quizás la razón más importante para orar. No simplemente porque lo desee, sino porque el deseo es un signo de otra cosa. Deseas orar porque Dios lo desea.
Una segunda razón para la oración es un ligero replanteamiento de esto. Oramos porque queremos tener una relación con Dios. Eso puede parecer obvio; por supuesto, oramos para estar más cerca de Dios. Pero es importante decir que el objetivo de la oración no es simplemente la relajación física, la atención plena, el conocimiento o una conexión con la creación, por importantes que sean esas cosas. Estos son objetivos que mucha gente menciona cuando habla de meditación. Pero el objetivo de la oración es una unión más estrecha con Dios.
Más básicamente, oramos porque amamos a Dios. William Barry SJ escribe: "El motivo principal de la oración es el amor, primero el amor de Dios por nosotros y luego el despertar de nuestro amor por Dios". Oramos para llegar a conocer a Dios también. "¿Quien es Dios?" es una cuestión importante en la vida espiritual. Entonces, ¿quién es Dios para mí? y "¿Quién soy yo ante Dios?"
La oración nos recuerda nuestra necesidad de Dios. Nos recuerda que no somos el centro del universo y que no somos Dios. A veces, cuando las cosas van bien, podemos volvernos arrogantes y complacientes en nuestra autosuficiencia. La oración, que nos coloca en la presencia de Dios de manera intencional, nos recuerda quién está a cargo, o más bien quién nos nutre. Gerard W. Hughes escribe en Dios de las sorpresas: “Para comenzar la oración es suficiente reconocer que no soy autosuficiente, que no soy el creador de mí mismo y de la creación. Si puedo hacer esto, entonces reconozco que hay algún poder - puede que no sepa si es personal o no y puedo estar en completa ignorancia de su naturaleza - más grande que yo".
Esto inevitablemente nos mueve a la humildad, a medida que nos damos cuenta cada vez más de nuestra necesidad de Dios. Thomas Merton fue más allá y dijo que la oración es inseparable de la humildad. La humildad, dijo, "nos hace darnos cuenta de que las profundidades de nuestro ser y nuestra vida son significativas y reales solo en la medida en que están orientadas hacia Dios como su fuente y su fin".
Una tercera razón es que tenemos que hacerlo. Si no está acostumbrado a orar, puede sonar ridículo, pero una vez que comience, verá que puede sentirse tan natural como respirar. Nuestro deseo innato por Dios significa que naturalmente anhelamos una relación con Dios. La oración es una consecuencia del anhelo humano por lo divino. En cierto sentido, no podemos no orar, porque la oración es parte del ser humano.
Hay otras razones por las que la oración se siente necesaria. Frente a tus problemas, ¿cómo no puedes pedir ayuda a tu Creador? Nunca he conocido a nadie que sienta que su vida está libre de problemas. Entonces oramos por una cuarta razón: estamos necesitados.
Una quinta razón es que la oración nos ayuda. Esto puede parecer egoísta, pero es otra motivación común, similar a las razones para hacer ejercicio físico. Si nunca te levantas del sofá, terminarás fuera de forma y eso influirá en tu condición física general; menos ejercicio significa más tirones de los músculos, una salud cardiovascular peligrosa y un mayor estrés. No orar, no pasar tiempo intencionalmente con Dios, significa que su vida espiritual estará fuera de forma, incluso flácida, y eso influirá en el resto de su vida. Probablemente estará menos agradecido y, por lo tanto, más irritable, menos conectado con la parte más profunda de sí mismo y, por lo tanto, más disperso, menos consciente de su confianza en Dios y, por lo tanto, más asustado. La oración te ayuda.
En los raros días en que no rezo, me siento desequilibrado. Y siempre sé por qué. Ciertamente me siento culpable por no haber pasado tiempo con Dios de manera intencional, pero también me siento, para decirlo sin rodeos, peor. Estoy más irritable, más distraído, menos paciente y menos capaz de mantener la perspectiva de la vida. Incluso cuando la oración se siente “seca”, me ayuda a sentirme más conectada con el centro de mi ser, que es Dios. Estar centrado de esa manera siempre significa más perspectiva, porque sabes cuál es tu posición.
La oración también es una forma de desahogarnos cuando nos sentimos tristes, enojados, estresados o frustrados. Esa es la sexta razón. A menudo, después de haberle contado a Dios sus problemas, se siente menos solo. Dios está siempre contigo, pero orar de esta manera es, no obstante, una gran ayuda. A veces me levanté de la oración y dije: "Al menos sé que Dios sabe cómo me siento".
Una séptima razón para orar es que nos ayuda a alabar a Dios. Si eres un creyente, quizás te preguntes cuál es la mejor manera de expresar tu gratitud. Puedes hacer buenas obras, vivir una vida moral y ayudar a tus semejantes. Esas son buenas formas de mostrar tu amor con gratitud. Como dice Ignacio de Loyola: "El amor debe manifestarse en los hechos más que en las palabras". Pero es igualmente importante decirle "gracias" a Dios. La oración es una forma de hacer esto. Simplemente descansar en las cosas por las que está agradecido es una forma de agradecer.
La oración, sin embargo, no es un acto solitario. Esto nos lleva a una octava razón: la solidaridad. Cuando oramos estamos, consciente o inconscientemente, expresando una conexión con nuestros hermanos y hermanas que también oran, incluso si no están físicamente con nosotros. La oración en común es un aspecto esencial de la vida espiritual. Como animales sociales, naturalmente encontramos consuelo y apoyo en grupos. Alabar a Dios en grupo tiene doble sentido: naturalmente queremos hacerlo y naturalmente queremos hacerlo con los demás. Ambos son parte del ser humano.
Siempre que oramos, nos unimos a los creyentes de todo el mundo que están elevando sus corazones y sus mentes a Dios. También estamos unidos con aquellos que nos han precedido, que continúan sus oraciones ante Dios. Esta es una parte de lo que los católicos quieren decir con la "comunión de los santos".
Novena razón: rezamos para ser transformados. Esto es algo diferente a orarle a Dios por ayuda, pero está relacionado. Sabiendo que tenemos defectos e imperfectos, muchos de nosotros buscamos a Dios para que nos ayude a convertirnos en mejores personas. Esto no quiere decir que todos seamos pecadores terribles o réprobos irredimibles. Más bien, todos somos seres humanos necesitados de la gracia de Dios.
En mi propia vida, ese deseo se manifiesta especialmente durante la oración. Si hago algo pecaminoso, siento un remordimiento que se vuelve más obvio cuando paso tiempo con Dios. Hace unos años hice algo egoísta que afectó a un amigo. En mi oración al día siguiente, vi lo poco caritativo que era y me sentí conmovido a buscar a mi amigo y disculparme. También recordé mi necesidad de la gracia de Dios y mi deseo de más caridad. También podemos darnos cuenta no de un pecado en particular, sino de un patrón general en nuestras vidas, un lugar donde no somos libres. Podemos pedir libertad de esto en oración.
Aquí también hay una especie de oración de petición, pero de diferente naturaleza. “Ayúdame a ser una mejor persona, Dios” podría llamarse una oración de transformación.
No hace mucho, había estado orando para que Dios me cambiara de una manera particular, y no parecía estar sucediendo mucho. Entonces, de repente, se descubrió que necesitaría una cirugía menor. Tumbado en la cama del hospital unas semanas después, atado por tubos a varias máquinas, comencé a pensar en todas las cosas que esperaba cambiar en mi vida: mis defectos y fallas, todas las cosas que esperaba que Dios cambiara o erradicara. Mientras enumeraba las cosas que me distraían de ser la persona en la que quería convertirme, comenzaron a parecerme ridículas en una palabra. En otras palabras, vi el vacío de todo lo que me alejaba de Dios.
Durante esos días sentí que Dios me decía en oración: "¿Qué tipo de vida quieres llevar?" No se trataba tanto de esperar a que Dios me cambiara o eliminara mis defectos; Dios me estaba diciendo que el cambio dependía en gran medida de mí. Fue un momento de transformación, ya que pareció ofrecerme libertad y me recordó mi propia agencia en la vida. La transformación es otro motivo de oración.
Esa breve lista de razones por las que la gente reza no está completa. Hay tantas razones para rezar como personas. Por ahora, digamos que hay muchas razones para orar, la principal de ellas es que Dios te está llamando. Es como si Dios estuviera diciendo: "¿Te gustaría pasar algún tiempo conmigo?"
¿Por qué no decir que sí?
• Adaptado de Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone
James Martin SJ es editor general de la revista America, consultor del Dicasterio para la Comunicación del Vaticano y autor de numerosos libros, entre ellos The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything.