One of the most interesting lines in scripture are the words of Jesus disciples, "Lord, teach us how to pray." They had the whole Jewish cycle of prayer, they had the law, they had the customs of their day; they had the Sabbath day prayer, the Feasts, the Vigils. And yet, when they saw Jesus pray, it was different, he was different, and they wanted to know why.
Andre Louf gives us a clue into Jesus' secret when he tells us that prayer has to be attended to little by little. Louf maintains that when we do this, we gradually rid our hearts of its surrounding dross; to listen to it where it is already at prayer; to yield ourselves to that prayer until the Spirit's prayer becomes our own.
Louf is telling us that Jesus' secret in prayer comes from melding our prayer with the Spirit's prayer until we are one. It happens, it just takes time and patience. As Louf goes on to say, if we stay with prayer, it will engender light, and through that light, our lives will change. Prayer is the power that uncaps the inner spring residing deep in our hearts. Once that spring burst forth, life changes, I change, my prayer changes.
Perhaps Simon Tugwell's words on prayer tell it best: It is not the immediate feeling that is important; that may or may not come. What matters is that we should be, slowly and quietly, molded by this rehearsal for and anticipation of the worship of heaven. It is a schooling for paradise.
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