That brings us…to the matter of Jesus’s own instructions on prayer, which at first seemed to be in tension with Paul’s, but on reflection are the reverse side of the same coin. Admittedly, it is disconcerting in comparison with Paul how little Jesus has to say by way of advice: just, “When you pray, say Father …” One can imagine the disciples meeting Jesus when he comes down from a whole night of prayer alone and asking, “What is it that you do in prayer – is it something very secret and special?” But Jesus opts for the most simple and direct approach: a mere turning over of the will, a handing over of the depths of all our longing, to the very source of our being: “Father, may your name be hallowed.”<\/p>\n
That’s it – that’s prayer. You have to ask, but not before you’ve first adored, before you’ve first acknowledged your utter dependence and your human creatureliness. This is where it all starts, in this tiny pause, this surrender, this turning of the will to God.<\/p>\n
So prayer is impossible, but only on the human spectrum. It becomes not only possible, but the galvanizing lifeline of my existence when I realize that I do not come to prayer to remind God about what he might have forgotten, or to tell him something from the evening news that he might perhaps have missed; rather, I come to prayer to prepare myself to receive what he is always already giving me – the gift of Himself.<\/p>\n