Our fallen world does not want God’s presence or grace. It is content to swim in its own cesspool and convince itself that things are okay. Such a mentality has no tolerance for prayer.

Prayer is offensive to such a worldview. Prayer implies that something is missing, someone is needed, and something is beyond our own grasp. Prayer exposes the fallenness of our world. It shows us our sins. It unmasks our pride and shows us the brokenness and chaos of our world.

Prayer is the path to reality, to a true awareness of things. Prayer is an act of humility. It disguises nothing. It pretends nothing. It cleans up or lies about nothing. There is no spin to prayer. There is no deception in prayer.

Due to the sobering effect of prayer, it is viewed as an enemy by those who are arrogant and as a weakness by those who are powerful.

As believers, we have to be careful of the air we breathe. It is very easy to take on the views of the unbeliever and the secularist. The Catechism of the Catholic Church warns us: “We must also face the fact that certain attitudes deriving from the mentality of ‘this present world’ can penetrate our lives if we are not vigilant.”

Among those who reject prayer, there is an inclination to extremism. Science can make no room for theology. Medicine has no tolerance for the spirit. Reason mocks faith. And the list goes on. We are reduced to a materialistic object (only a few steps above a couch or a car). Our personhood is diminished and ideology disguises itself as objective reason.

The Catechism observes: “For example, some would have it that only that is true which can be verified by reason and science; yet prayer is a mystery that overflows both our conscious and unconscious lives.”

The persuasiveness of materialism also gives credibility to utilitarianism. We are merely consumers who move along the chain of supply and demand. We are defined by what we make or have, rather than who we are. In such a worldview, prayer is the ultimate insanity. It doesn’t materialistically make anything. By utilitarian terms, it’s a waste of time and energy.

The Catechism notes: “Others overly prize production and profit; thus prayer, being unproductive, is useless.”

We can round out materialism and utilitarianism with their co-joined triplet, hedonism. Hedonism is the love of pleasure and the reduction of goodness and beauty to the standards of comfort and ease. Hedonism gives no concession to spiritual or moral things. If something hurts or is difficult, it’s best not to do it.

The Catechism tells us: “Still others exalt sensuality and comfort as the criteria of the true, the good, and the beautiful; whereas prayer, the ‘love of beauty’ (philokalia), is caught up in the glory of the living and true God.”

The trio of materialism, utilitarianism, and hedonism create a culture that is devoid of transcendence, spirituality, interiority, virtue, and anything that summons us to look above or beyond ourselves. These triplets of misery are great anti-evangelists. They readily spread their message and entice people to follow them.

The contemporary person is a sovereign self. People today view themselves as the center and lord of their lives. They believe that life is what you make. The goal is to move fast, make money, secure influence, and hold power. Prayer is viewed as a threat to such a worldview. The interior life is seen as a needless vulnerability that only slows us down.

The call to prayer, however, shines through such darkness and misery. It invites us to lift up our head and see the face of God.

The Catechism observes: “Finally, some see prayer as a flight from the world in reaction against activism; but in fact, Christian prayer is neither an escape from reality nor a divorce from life.”

In an opposing view, prayer is seen as an escape from the travails of life. But true prayer restores us and refreshes us so that we can reenter the struggles of life and fight for what is true, good, and beautiful.

In spite of the objections to prayer, we were made for union with God. The summons to prayer will always be a knock on the doors of our hearts and a quiet voice that invites us to encounter the God who made us and loves us.

For free, daily reflections from Father Kirby, visit DailyDiscipleship.org.