by Father John Kelly ocso
When we pray, how far is our prayer God’s work and how far is it our work? Someone said to me recently, “Why pray since prayer is a pure gift from God?” He seemed to imply that we couldn’t do much about prayer since everything depended on God. He seemed to be looking for an excuse for not praying. Be that as it may, his objection raises an important question. How far is my prayer God’s work, and how far is it mine?
Some verses in Scripture attribute prayer to God. “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12, 3). “We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” (Rom. 8, 26). “The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God.” (Rom. 8, 16). These quotes obviously attribute prayer in some sense to God.
However, in many places we are told simply to ‘pray’ – “ask and you shall receive.” (Lk. 11, 9). “Anyone who lacks wisdom must ask God for it…it will be given.” (James 1, 5). Many similar quotes could be given in which Scripture urges us to pray.
Romans (8, 16), quoted above, sees prayer as a co-operative effort in which our spirit co-operates with the Holy Spirit. St. Augustine describes Christ’s role brilliantly as follows. “Christ prays for us, prays in us and is prayed to by us. He prays for us as our priest; he prays in us as our Head; he is prayed to by us as our God. Let us recognise, therefore, our voices in him and his voice in us.” (Breviary, Vol.1, p. XX1V).
It seems to me that Lonergan offers the best explanation of how God and humans work together in carrying out all meritorious actions. He teaches that in all good works, and this includes prayer, God always takes the initiative. He offers us initial grace so as to get us started. Lonergan calls this grace ‘operative grace’. If we respond to this initial grace and proceed to carry out the good work, God gives us further grace to bring the work to completion. Lonergan calls this second grace ‘co-operative grace’ because God and humans work together. If we fail to respond to the initial ‘operative grace’ we get no ‘co-operative grace’. There is no point in giving it to us since we are not tuned into the Spirit.
In our treatment of God’s role in prayer we will follow Lonergan who seems to be in tune with biblical teaching, and he explains in a clear way how we co-operate with God in prayer and in all good works. God always takes the initiative in prayer even if we fail to realise this, being under the illusion that we ourselves initiate our prayers. The truth is that without Christ we can do nothing (Jn. 15, 5).
But one may object, what happens if God never takes the initiative, if he never urges us to pray? My response to this is to cite Vatican 2, (L.G. N.40), which teaches that the Holy Spirit is leading all human beings to perfect love of God and neighbour.
Therefore, he is leading each one to pray since love is expressed and nourished mainly in prayer. There can be no affective love of God without prayer. Such love is born in prayer, nourished in prayer, expressed in prayer. The Holy Spirit wouldn’t be fulfilling his role in our regard if he didn’t urge us to pray. This is how he leads us to perfect love of God.
It is impossible to doubt God’s readiness to give us the grace necessary to pray when we recall all the proofs that God has given us of his love. The whole Bible is the story of God’s unfailing love for his people. “He loved the world so much that he gave up for its redemption his only begotten Son” (Jn. 3, 16). He is the good shepherd, who goes in search of the lost sheep and seeks diligently until he finds it (Lk. 15). “He wants all people to be saved” (1 Tim. 2, 4). But they cannot be saved without God’s help. Therefore, he offers them the necessary grace.
Scripture is full of exhortations to pray, to practice virtue, to love God and neighbour etc. but without God’s grace we can do nothing. Unless God gives us the initial grace to fulfil all these precepts he would be asking us to do the impossible. He would be commanding us to pray and practise virtue, relying on our own strength, which is something that is beyond our power. Therefore, out of his great love for us, he gives us the grace we need to move forward. In Lonergan’s terms he gives us the initial ‘operative grace’ to get started. If we respond he will follow up by giving us the grace to keep going, namely ‘co-operative grace’.
God is truly the ‘Hound of Heaven’ who pursues us ceaselessly out of love. This is how St. John of the Cross speaks of God. “If we are seeking God much more is the Beloved seeking us…so we must understand God’s desire in all the good things he does for us… He wants to prepare us for further anointings so that we will be more like him in quality until we come to such purity that we merit union with God” – (Living Flame, 3, 27+)
John is obviously speaking from his own experience but this experience merely confirms everything that the Bible tells us about God’s love for each of us which defies rational explanation. However, we are assured of his incredible love by the inspired Scriptures and the teaching of all the saints. Hence we have great reason to rejoice and be confident.
In conclusion, there can be no doubt about God’s love for us. He has given us Jesus and the Holy Spirit; all three divine persons dwell in our hearts and ceaselessly inspire us to love God and neighbour. They dwell in us for the sole purpose of being loved by us. They exercise their love for us largely by giving us all the help we need to return love for love. Among the many gifts they bestow on us is the great gift of prayer.
