Overcoming enemies in ‘Battle of Prayer’ helps us grow, know God

Published: January 11, 2003

By Abbot Jerome Kodell, OSB

Part Four of the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” has 13 articles on Christian prayer. The one that has been most helpful to me is titled “The Battle of Prayer” (2725-2745). “The Battle of Prayer,” according to the catechism, is “against ourselves and against the wiles of the tempter,” who tries to turn us away from prayer and thus from union with God.

The catechism identifies seven enemies of prayer against which the battle line must be drawn: erroneous notions of prayer, the mentality of the world, past failure in prayer, distractions, dryness, lack of faith, and acedia or spiritual boredom. Some erroneous notions of prayer stem from a misunderstanding of God, others from a misunderstanding of ourselves.

We may pray as if God doesn’t know our needs or with the idea that if what we ask for doesn’t happen the way we expect, it means God doesn’t hear or doesn’t care. Prayer may seem to be something added on to life, a separate occupation, an unnecessary extra, or it may be viewed as a psychological need for certain types of persons.

We may treat it as an impersonal interaction, a process relying on a particular code or formula, rather than a personal relationship. Some people are quickly discouraged “because they do not know that prayer comes also from the Holy Spirit and not from themselves alone” (2726). The mentality of the world is the view that only what can be verified by reason and science is true, and that all causality is contained within the physical universe.

What you see is what you get, and since the results of prayer are often untraceable or invisible, prayer’s value doesn’t register. There may be a real disappointment from failed commitments to prayer in the past, which discourages us from trying again. Other discouragements come from misinterpretations of our experience; our prayer was improper or ineffective because of spiritual dryness or distractions, or our prayer was unworthy because of our continuing sinfulness. “The conclusion is always the same: what good does it do to pray?” (2728).

Everyone is bothered by distractions and, at least in the beginning, may judge their presence nullifies prayer. But prayer is primarily a decision of the will, and underneath the distractions we may be perfectly focused on God. The fight with distractions purifies our prayer. A famous utterance of Thomas Merton is: “If you have never had any distractions, you don’t know how to pray.”

When we begin to respond to God’s call to a closer union, our prayer is typically accompanied by feelings of deep peace and joy. As we progress in the spiritual journey, there comes a time when God weans us away from feelings. Periods of dryness can make us think that God is distant or not present, and this may tempt us to give up praying. “This is the moment of sheer faith clinging faithfully to Jesus in his agony and in his tomb” (2731).

The seed must die to bear fruit. Finally, there is acedia, known popularly in tradition as the “noonday devil,” which is a spiritual tiredness that attacks in mid-course and makes difficult what used to be easy, and rocky what used to be smooth. Confronted with these enemies it helps to know struggles are the normal course and God is right there with you in the battle of prayer.

Abbot Jerome Kodell, OSB, writes from Subiaco Abbey. This article was originally published in Arkansas Catholic January 11, 2003. Copyright Diocese of Little Rock. All rights reserved. This article may be copied or redistributed with acknowledgement and permission of the publisher.