Specialized studies suggest that St. Anthony Mary Claret was not a great innovator but that he had the singular gift of selecting what was thought up by others, resetting them, organizing them and taking profit from them. The one who does best is not the one who invents most but rather the one who best knows how to put it at the service of others.
The comparisons we read in Claret are perhaps not among the most original pages of universal literature but they transmit what the saint wants us to understand: we cannot live without prayer.
The passage of time teaches us that there are substances that our body needs and whose absence, without especially being noticed, causes alterations, sickness or preoccupation. We become sick and the doctors detect a lack of some vitamin, of iron, of sodium, etc. Their absence has been silently undermining us, noiselessly, but the effects have got to us.
Something like this happens with prayer. Its presence is not noisy, many times it is not visible but its absence sets off alarms. The earth cannot live without water (human beings neither!); the soldier ‘is lost’ – as Claret points out – if he is deprived of his weapons. We don’t get far without prayer. Each one of us has to find our own rhythm, our own way, our own style, etc. but only the frequent meeting with the Lord truly nourishes our lives. Let us listen to Claret.
Do you speak about prayer or dedicate yourself to prayer? Do you experience the effects of its absence in your life? Do you let it go or do you look for particular moments to pray?