Paradox of Prayer

"The reason we cannot find a simple set of instructions on how to pray in the Bible is that God has graciously preserved us from a possible source of the illusion that prayer is something we do on our own."

"We are commanded to do what we cannot do. All the same, our own act of will in desiring this prayer of the Spirit as a gift is necessary since God gives His Gifts to those who want them. It may take time for each of us to agree with God that this gift is what he wants."

"We learn that we ought not simply to want the things we pray for, but want to want to agree with God's will. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that prayer is not about changing God's mind, but about putting ourselves into conformity with God's will. ... It is at this point that we really come to grips with the question: Do I want the gift of prayer?"

"Yes, we want to will God's will, but at the same time we will our own will. The former may even impress us as being the better but more distant, while our own passions are so near and perhaps will do well enough. Thus, we find within ourselves the flat contradiction of wanting God and not wanting God. There is no easy way out. To undo what God has done will take about as much strength of will as to persevere in this journey of prayer."

"If we find that we are helpless then we are further along than we think. ... Here is where the Spirit as a two-edged sword begins to cut into the heart of our human condition. Here in this wound, while our will seems to bleed, comes the miraculous beginning of the gift of prayer. We seem to have accomplished nothing. We may seem to be worse than we were before. But right where the wound bleeds, a breath of prayer flows through us."

Br. Andrew Marr, O.S.B. from "The Paradox of Prayer" in Singing God's Praises p. 333-336