Describing prayer, for Vincentians... based on 2020 Lenten Letter of Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, CM

1. Prayer is…
A continual
conversation
with God

2. Prayer is…
Asking for God’s
grace with
perfect
confidence

3. Prayer is…
Indispensable for
my life

4. Prayer is…
Something that
cannot be detached
from my person,
from what I think,
say, and do

5. Prayer is…
Something with a
transforming
power

6. Prayer is…
A state of being

7. Prayer is…
A continuous
relationship with
Jesus

8. Prayer is…
A source of
meaning

9. Prayer is…
Discovery of my
life focus

10. Prayer is…
Discovery of my
vocation

11. Prayer is…
Discovery of my
mission

12. Prayer is…
Responses for
questions in my
life

13. Prayer is…
Something that
originates in God

14. Prayer is…
Something with
transforming
power within me

15. Prayer is…
Something that
continually
makes “all things
new”

16. Prayer is…
Transformative
communication
according to
God’s nature

17. Prayer is…
An effortless,
perceptible, very
pleasant, gentle,
loving communication
of God

18. Prayer is…
A gift of meditation
we should ask God for
often and with great
confidence

19. Prayer is…
Something God asks
for, and God asks for
nothing better

20. Prayer is…
Something we can ask of
God with great
confidence, and be
assured that, in His great
mercy, God will grant to
us in the end

21. Prayer is…
The place where I
meet Jesus

22. Prayer is…
The place where I talk
to Jesus

23. Prayer is…
The place where I
listen to Jesus

24. Prayer is…
The place where I
share with Jesus

25. Prayer is…
The place where I put
questions to Jesus

26. Prayer is…
The place where I
confidently put myself
into Jesus’ hands

27. Prayer is…
Something all my
thoughts, words, and
actions can become

28. Prayer is…
Being in front of God

29. Prayer is…
Being with God

30. Prayer is…
Talking, listening, and
sharing with God who is
the “Love” of my life
and whom I long to
resemble

31. Prayer is…
A relationship
requiring my humility

32. Prayer is…
An opening of myself
to God

33. Prayer is…
Giving God the right
to pilot my life

34. Prayer is…
An emptying of
myself so that God
fills my heart

35. Prayer is…
God remaining and
acting in my heart

36. Prayer is…
A desire for shame
that empties me of
myself; that’s humility,
holy humility

37. Prayer is…
Not ourselves acting,
but God acting in us,
and all will go well

38. Prayer is…
Constant contact with
Jesus, day and night,
awake or asleep

39. Prayer is…
Something we can do
every hour, or better,
“without ceasing”

40. Prayer is…
A meditation so
excellent that we can
never make it too
much

41. Prayer is…
All of my life

42. Prayer is…
All of my love

43. Prayer is…
A divine relationship

44. Prayer is…
A transformation of
my hierarchy of values

45. Prayer is…
A transformation of
my relationship to
people, objects,
places, and time

46. Prayer is…
Setting my priorities,
different from those of
the world I live in

47. Prayer is…
Living as I am only
passing through this
world

48. Prayer is…
Living as in a foreign
country, passing our
days upon earth but
being citizens of
heaven

49. Prayer is…
Living in poverty, but
enriching many

50. Prayer is…
Being totally destitute,
but possessing an
abundance of
everything

51. Prayer is…
Finding glory in
worldly dishonor

52. Prayer is…
Blessing those who
abuse me

53. Prayer is…
Deferring to those
who insult me

54. Prayer is…
Rejoicing in suffering

55. Prayer is…
A deep relationship
with God, the Love of
my life

56. Prayer is…
Asking Jesus to be my
all and guide all my
choices

57. Prayer is…
Knowing Jesus and
“entering into His
spirit”

58. Prayer is…
Asking ourselves, How
did Our Lord judge
such or such a thing?

59. Prayer is…
Asking ourselves, How
did Our Lord act in
such or such a
circumstance?

60. Prayer is…
Asking ourselves,
What did Our Lord say
and do regarding
certain matters?

61. Prayer is…
Adapting our whole
way of acting in
accord with Our Lord’s
examples

62. Prayer is…
Taking a resolution to
walk confidently
along a royal road on
which Jesus will be
our leader and guide

63. Prayer is…
Remembering that
Jesus said heaven and
earth will pass away
but His words will
never pass away

64. Prayer is…
Blessing Our Lord by
striving to think and
judge as He did

65. Prayer is…
Blessing Our Lord by
striving to do what He
recommended by His
words and examples

66. Prayer is…
Entering into Our
Lord’s Spirit to adopt
His ways of acting

67. Prayer is…
Doing good and doing
it well, in imitation of
Our Lord

68. Prayer is…
Fasting, observing the
Rules, and carrying
out the ministries of
the Mission in the
Spirit of Jesus Christ

69. Prayer is…
Carrying out my
ministries with
perfection, for the
purpose, and in the
way Jesus did them

70. Prayer is…
Following Jesus’
example of prayer
with God the Father

71. Prayer is…
Going to a place of
solitude where I can
remain alone with God

72. Prayer is…
Taking time away from
my regular duties and
ministries to go into
the “desert” to be
alone with Jesus

73. Prayer is…
Finding my desert

74. Prayer is…
Going to the desert
often

75. Prayer is…
Staying in the desert
for as long as I can

76. Prayer is…
Deepening my
intimate relationship
with Jesus

77. Prayer is…
Our gift for each other

78. Prayer is…
At the center of St.
Vincent’s life (and God
willing, my life)

79. From a Lenten letter of
Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, CM