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2731 Another difficulty, especially for
those who sincerely want to pray, is dryness. Dryness
belongs to contemplative prayer when the heart is separated
from God, with no taste for thoughts, memories and feelings,
even spiritual ones. This is the moment of sheer faith
clinging faithfully to Jesus in his agony and in his tomb.
‘Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much
fruit.”8 If dryness is due to the lack of roots,
because the word has fallen on rocky soil, the battle
Facing temptations in prayer
2732 The most common yet most hidden temptation is our
lack of faith. It expresses itself less by declared
incredulity than by our 2609, 2089 actual preferences.
When we begin to pray, a thousand labours or cares thought
to be urgent vie for priority; once again, it is the moment
of truth for the heart: what is its real love? Sometimes we
turn to the Lord as a last resort, but do we really believe
he is? Sometimes we enlist the Lord as an ally, but our
heart remains presumptuous. In each case, our lack of
faith reveals that we do not 2092 yet share in the
disposition of a humble heart: ‘Apart from me, you
2074 can do nothing.’2°
2733 Another temptation, to which presumption opens the
gate, is acedia. The spiritual writers understand by
this a form of depres— 2094 sion due to lax
ascetical practice, decreasing vigilance, carelessness of
heart. ‘The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak.’2’ The greater the height, the harder the
fall. Painful as discouragement is, it is the reverse of
presumption. The humble are not surprised by 2559 their
distress; it leads them to trust more, to hold fast in
constancy.
2734 Filial trust is tested — it
proves itself— in tribulation.22 The principal
difficulty concerns the prayer of petition, for
oneself or for 2629 others in intercession. Some even
stop praying because they think their petition is not heard.
Here two questions should be asked:
Why do we think our petition has not been heard? How is our
prayer heard, how is it ‘efficacious’? Why do we complain of not being heard? 2735 In the first place, we ought to be astonished
by this fact: |
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