wo friends are fleeing from a raging bull in a field. They are running as fast as they can, but the bull is still closing in on them. Rounding a clump of trees, they find themselves herded into the corner of a big fence.

Smelling the scent of victory, the bull prepares for its final charge.

“Well, now would be a good time for a prayer,” panted the first friend. “Do you know any?”

“No, I cannot remember.”

 “Surely you know something. You come from a religious family. Quick, pray something. ANYTHING!”

“Ah yes, yes, my father says this thing at dinnertime…”

“For Heaven’s sake, SAY IT!”

“Oh Lord, for what we are about to receive, please make us truly grateful.”

When prayer becomes a mechanical reflex, it loses all its value, and will only serve to pacify our conscience… unto death. True prayer is not something one memorizes, or even recites. It is a soul call uttered with every breath, with every heart beat. “Lord, come” was the simple prayer of the Fathers of the Desert in the third century, and they would let it resonate in their mind, heart, and breath twenty-four hours a day.

In the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, St Paul exhorted us to “pray constantly,” which has been one of the most formidable religious challenges of all times. It seems impossible only because we do not understand what prayer really is. St Francis of Assisi gave us a clue: “Pray constantly, yes. Even with words, if necessary.”

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