How, then, Should We Pray?

Someone once asked me, "Who is this God you are praying to?"  A wonderful question, since Jesus said, This is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent (Jn. 17:3).

If we do not know the One to Whom we pray, our prayers might seem to reach nowhere.  How often have we said of someone we know, "It's like talking to a wall!"  Our conversation has no entrance point, for we do not really know the person we address, nor does he apparently know us.  So how on earth does one get to know God?

One of my favorite entry points into prayer is to take the words of Scripture, wherein God reveals Himself to us, and say them back to the Divine Personality.  The Old Testament is rich in images of God, but I will leave that mine for another day in favor of treasure closer to the surface.  The Book of John is so rich in revelation of who Jesus is, so full of "I Am" statements that it is easy for a beginner in prayer to enter into the Divine Presence.

We do not even have to advance beyond the Prologue to the Gospel to begin to see Who Jesus is.  John lived many years beyond the appearance of the synoptic Gospels and could assume that everyone knew the basic historic facts about Jesus Christ.  In his office of prayer and contemplation, John was now free to see more deeply into the Presence of Christ in the world:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning....

And so we, learning to pray, say to the One to Whom we pray: You, O Lord, are the Word.....the Word who was with God from the beginning, the Word who is God....through you all things were made; without you, nothing was made that has been made.  ..... In You is life, and Your Life is the light of man.  ....You are the light shining in the darkness, and the darkness has never overcome Your Life.

When St. Augustine cried, "O Beauty ever ancient! O Beauty ever new!," he knew the One to Whom he was praying.  If we take the words of Scripture as our address to our God, we come to know Him intimately.....from the fullness of Your grace, we have all received one blessing after another! (Jn. 1:16).  Now we are learning to worship the One we know.  Soon, then, our praise will arise spontaneously because once we prime the pump, the Holy Spirit will take over and lead us, showing us even greater things.