Prayer: The Means of Divine Grace
I will not only pray for myself, but also my fellow students and teachers, [so that by] the infusion of grace, they may reap an infinitely great fruit. (OOCC, X, pp. 128 - 129; STA, 29)
For St. Vincent Pallotti, prayer is the means of divine grace. God desires that a Christian is open to the gift of grace through prayer. God is ever ready to bestow upon the human person the treasure of his grace. But a person, through prayer, must reach out to God opening himself to him. According to St. Vincent Pallotti, prayer is the essential condition that is most conducive to receiving the grace of God. St. Vincent, analyzing the spiritual state of a person, says that if a person is caught up in spiritual misery and meaninglessness, it is because of two reasons: either he does not pray at all; or he does not pray as he should pray. Thus, the wealth of a person’s spiritual life depends on the manner in which a person prays. Similarly, a person finds himself in the state of spiritual poverty if he neglects and ignores prayer in his life. Not only did St. Vincent advise his followers to pray, but he himself spent many hours in prayer daily. He made use of every opportunity to pray. Even as a young person, St. Vincent had the habit of frequent repetition of fervent prayers and ejaculations. His sincere commitment to prayer is the reason for his sanctity.
Do I acknowledge prayer as a means to the grace of God? Do I take time to pray so as to reach out to God’s presence? What is the nature of my spiritual life? Do I find myself in a state of spiritual poverty or in a state of spiritual wealth? What concrete steps do I need to take in order to grow in my prayer life and open my life to God’s grace?
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, when received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the invocation of God in prayer. (I Tim. 4: 4 – 5)