Prayer is a struggle, so much so that the Catechism of the Catholic Church goes so far as to say that it is a “spiritual battle.”
Generally speaking, the sentence seems rather tame to the outside observer. In most cases, prayer is associated with a peaceful disposition and feelings of joy and happiness. However, the Catholic Church describes prayer as a battle.
Because?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it in its section on prayer:
Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part. It always requires an effort. The great figures of prayer from the Old Covenant before Christ, as well as the Mother of God, the saints and Himself, teach us: prayer is a combat.CIC 2725
Prayer is a battle because it requires effort.
While it is true that prayer is a gift, and that we have God’s many graces during prayer, we also need to make an effort to pray.
If we don’t try to pray, we will probably never pray.
Enemies of prayer
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That is why the Church calls it a battle, since most of the time the battle is against ourselves:
Against whom? Against ourselves and against the wiles of the tempter, who does everything possible to separate man from prayer, from union with God.CIC 2725
As the Catechism states, prayer is not only a battle against ourselves, but also against Satan and his demonic forces.
The devil does not want us to be united with God, and that is why he does everything possible to prevent us from praying. He will also try to distract or tempt us during prayer, hoping to catch us off guard.
In this way, prayer is never truly passive, where we sit quietly and bask in the graces of God. Although that experience is certainly possible, to achieve that peace we must fight against the many enemies who try to distance us from union with God.
The key is to make prayer a habit and continually fight the forces that oppose us.
A lifelong fight
We pray as we live, because we live as we pray. If we do not want to act habitually according to the Spirit of Christ, we cannot pray habitually in his name either. The “spiritual battle” of the Christian’s new life is inseparable from the battle of prayer.CIC 2725
As long as we breathe on this earth, we will have to battle during prayer.
Only at the end of our lives can we rest in the loving arms of our benevolent Father.
