What is Prayer?

Prayer is simply talking to God

Photo by Samuel Martins on Unsplash

Listening and Speaking

Mother Teresa, when asked about the secret of her ministry, responded, “My secret is a very simple one: I pray.” When asked how she defined prayer, she replied, “Prayer is simply talking to God. He speaks to us: we listen. We speak to him: he listens.”¹

My question is — How are we supposed to listen to God?

I mean, I’ve heard a few people claim to have heard an audible voice from God. Others will speak of a clear and powerful “impression” or “conviction” that they rightly describe as God’s voice. For many people, however, most of the time, listening to God seems to be difficult, and the din of our own inner dialogue gets in the way. The silence is uncomfortable and often unwelcome, so in response, many of us resort to talking. We talk a lot…and listen little.

When we do all the talking, we minimize the ultimate purpoase of benefit of prayer. Prayer is not a monologue—it is a dialogue grounded in a convenental relationship. We are…creatures made for conversation. (Busic, 16)

God speaks.
We listen.

We speak.
God listens.

Getting to know God

The purpose of meaningful conversation is to know others and to be known by others. This is true in our human-human relationships—the best way to start a conversation is to begin asking people to talk about themselves (because people generally enjoy talking about themselves), and the best way to move beyond surface-level connections is to have meaningful conversations where each party takes time to listen and to speak.

Question: What does it mean to know God?