Hajja Salesjana

When we pray intentionally, we strive to lift our hearts and minds toward God, but our minds also want to relax to lower thoughts. Does that mean we should just shrug it off and accept that our minds will wander? No, for that would contradict the original intent to pray in earnest. We must not enter prayer lazily, expecting that we will wander when we want to wander or sleep when we want to sleep. “Purposely to allow one’s mind to wander in prayer is sinful and hinders the prayer from having fruit.” It’s always a good idea to read articles of the Summa Theologiæ in their fuller context. This explanation is Article 13 of Question 13 entitled “Prayer,” which is in the Second Part of the Second Part where virtues are discussed. First St. Aquinas discussed the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. Then he began the cardinal virtues, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. The question about prayer is located in the section on “Justice,” in the subsection on religion as a show of justice because we owe God for our existence and for His love. Prayer, then, is an act we justly owe to God so that we can know, love, and serve Him better. We can never fully repay our debt to God, but we can “intend” our actions toward Him. What that means in real life is that we have to keep trying even as we know—and accept—that we are not perfect. Though we fall asleep, get distracted by other thoughts, or fail to remember when we said we would practice a better prayer routine, if we intend sincerely to pray, our prayers have merit. The point is: We have to keep trying. When we strive for virtue by striving for faith, hope, and love in God, and then by striving in that faith, hope, and love for prudence and justice in our lives, we grow in virtue. In turn, growth in virtue strengthens our minds. We become better persons, more who we are meant to be. Sin weakens us. If we do not try to avoid sin, we cannot pray as we should. Nonetheless, if we are so weakened by sin that we cannot pray attentively, our merit is in our trying. We try as hard as we can to pray, even if we can only say one word, “Jesus.” St. Thomas cited St. Basil who said that God will pardon us if we are unable to approach God attentively because we are frail. And when our Blessed Mother prays for us sinners, I don’t think she will focus on the night we drifted off to sleep with her name on our lips or on the day we sat weeping in despair barely able to voice her Son’s name. She won’t remember all the failures along the way. She will remember our journey. At the hour of our death, I think she will remember that we tried and never gave up. Top photo by Mohammed Nohasi - Unsplash.com 10 April-Ġunju 2024 hajja