Catechesis of the Pope. Difficulty praying: distraction, dryness and heartburn

Pope Francis presided over the general audience this Wednesday, May 19 at the Patio de San Dámaso in the Vatican, and reflected on distractions, drought and acidity in prayer, following the guidelines of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Distraction and vigilance in prayer

Praying is not easy, the Pope began by saying, because “there are many difficulties that arise in prayer” and we must know them, identify them and overcome them. The first problem that arises for those who pray – stressed the Pope – is The distraction:

You start to pray and then your mind goes around the world; your heart is there, the spirit is there … the distraction of prayer. Prayer often coexists with distraction. In fact, it is difficult for the human mind to dwell on a single thought for long. We all experience this constant whirlwind of continuously moving images and illusions, which accompanies us even during sleep. And we all know it’s not good to follow this messy skinny.

Speaking in Italian, the Supreme Pontiff indicated that the struggle to achieve and maintain concentration is not limited to prayer, because “if a sufficient degree of concentration is not achieved, one cannot study profitably, nor work well “. This is how he gave the example of athletes, who “know that competitions are won not only with physical training, but also with mental discipline”, that is to say “especially with ability to maintain focus and attention “. Thus, we must fight against distractions, and therefore in the heritage of our faith there is a virtue “which is often forgotten”, and which is called “vigilance”:

The Catechism mentions this explicitly in its instruction on prayer (cf. No. 2730). Jesus often calls the disciples to the duty of a sober life, guided by the thought that sooner or later he will return, like a wedding groom or a traveling gentleman. However, not knowing the day and time of his return, every minute of our life is precious and should not be wasted on distractions. In a moment unknown to us, the voice of our Lord will sound: on that day, blessed are the servants whom he finds industrious, always focused on what really matters.

In prayer, – said the Holy Father in his summary in Spanish – when we become aware of our distractions, what helps us to fight them is to humbly offer our heart to the Lord to purify it. and refocuses it on him. .

Drought and heart open to the Lord

Another difficulty is Drought, which can depend on ourselves, or also on God, who allows certain external or internal situations. Even “a headache or liver disease” prevents us from entering into prayer, and often “we don’t really know why.” But the drought “reminds us of Good Friday, the night and Holy Saturday”, when “Jesus is no, he is in the tomb, Jesus is dead”, and “we are alone”: it is “the time of desolation and of the purest faith, affirmed Francis, because he stands firmly beside Jesus ”.

Spiritual teachers describe the experience of faith as a continual alternation of moments of comfort and desolation; Times when everything is easy, while others are marked by great heaviness. Many times when we find a friend we say, “How are you?” – “Today I am broken down.” Often, we are “depressed”, that is to say, we have no feelings, we have no consolation, we cannot take it any more. These are those gray days … and there are so many in life! But the danger is “to have” a gray heart: when this “being below” reaches the heart and makes it sick … and there are people who live with a gray heart. It’s terrible: you can’t pray, you can’t feel comfortable with a gray heart!

In order for the light of the Lord to enter, “the heart must be open and luminous”, indicated the Holy Father, encouraging us to wait for this light “with hope” and without “enclosing it in gray”.

Acedia and humble perseverance

Heartburn is the third difficulty we encounter in prayer: it is a “defect”, said the Holy Father, “another vice”, and constitutes “a real temptation” against prayer and against life. Christian. It is, as the Catechism teaches, “a form of harshness or disgust due to laziness, the laxity of asceticism, the neglect of vigilance, the neglect of the heart”. It is one of the seven “capital vices” because, fueled by presumption, it can lead to the death of the soul, said Pope Francis.

So what should we do in this succession of enthusiasm and discouragement? You always have to learn to walk. The real progress of the spiritual life does not consist in multiplying the ecstasies, but in being able to persevere in the difficult moments: walking, walking, walking … And if you are tired, stop for a moment and walk again. But with perseverance.

Let us remember the parable of Saint Francis on perfect joy: it is not in the infinite fortunes torn from heaven that the capacity of a brother is measured, but by walking regularly, even when he is not recognized. , even when mistreated, even when everything has lost the flavor of its beginnings. (…) We must learn to say: “Even if you, my God, seem to be doing everything possible to make me stop believing in You, I will continue to pray to You.” Believers never turn off prayer!

The value of “why?”

Although our prayer “may at times resemble that of Job, who does not accept that God treats him unfairly, protests and summons him to justice,” the Pope stressed that, nevertheless, “many times, protesting before God is also a form of prayer. ”: This because“ because often the son gets angry with his father ”, it is“ a way of relating to his father ”:

We know that at the end, at the end of this desolate time, in which we have raised silent cries to heaven and a lot of “why?” God will answer us. Remember the phrase “why?”: This is the prayer that children say when they start not understanding things, and psychologists call it “the age of why” because the child asks his father: “Dad why … Dad why … Dad why …?” “But let’s be careful: he doesn’t listen to daddy’s answer. The daddy starts to answer and he leaves with another why. He just wants to draw his father’s gaze to him; And when we get a little angry with God and let’s start saying the “why”, we draw our Father’s heart to our misery, to our difficulty, to our life.

Thus, the Pontiff concluded his catechesis by encouraging people to have the courage to say to God: “but why?” Because – he says – sometimes getting a little angry is a good thing, because it makes us awaken that relationship of son to father, daughter to father, that we must have with God.

During his greetings to the faithful, Pope Francis addressed a special thought to those of the French-speaking language: “While waiting for Pentecost, like the apostles gathered in the Upper Room with the Virgin Mary, let us fervently ask the Lord for the Spirit of comfort. . and peace to the martyred peoples, ”he said. And greeting the Spanish-speaking faithful, he encouraged that in these days of preparation for the solemnity of Pentecost, we ask the Lord “to send us the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that we can persevere in our prayer life with humility and joy. , overcome difficulties with wisdom and perseverance. “