Pray!

"When a person starts not to pray, he/she starts to be lost and gradually depart from God and be the "god" of himself..."

I deem this to be true. I formulated this statement in one of our classes in Psychology of Religious Life. We were discussing about prayer then. My professor began to name Saints who in their lives experienced spiritual dryness or even darkness of the soul, as St. John of the Cross puts it.

I for myself have already experienced the sudden decrease of one's enthusiasm to speak with God and tell him one's concerns. Talking to God, while bringing to Him all my hearts desires in thanksgiving and praise, for me is a great example of prayer. It is through praying that I can get in touch with the Divine. It is by this that I get to see His plan and conform myself with that of His. Prayer makes me more accomplish the original form according to His design.

Nonetheless, there are moments in my life that instead of seeking the face of God, what I seek is the face of the world He has created that has been gradually populated by creature whose wills have turned against Him. In cases like this, we, people, get destructed and alienated among our own selves. We become farther and farther from Him. We do this by means of our freedom.

Man's freedom is so powerful that it can even drag him to hell. The same freedom is God gift to him by the One who created him. Freedom is a precious gift from on high that even God chooses not to encroach over it. If this awful event in man's life continues, he willfully separates himself with God.

The separation of man from God implies himself to be the judge of his actions and absolute mastery of one's self without any consideration of a Being much majestic than him. Thus, man creates his own god, who is no other than himself. Also because of this, man will not anymore believe in communicating to a God he does not physically see or feel. In this sense, man himself drifts away from the Source of his own existence, who is also the Author of all that is.

This is a sad reality we need to face as men and women of today. The golden calf of the Old Testament, during Moses' time, is continually being fashioned by us in so many instances and places. We need to fight this and be vigilant enough against the attack of the evil forces. With God's loving mercy, may we be able to believe and carry out Christ's mission on earth, to lead each one to the Father under the guidance of the Spirit of life and of love. May God receive us towards the end of earthly life with smile and welcoming words, "Come and share your Master's joy."