Love is about perseverance. Fair weathered friends aren’t worth the forecast. They come and they go based on how good things are going. There is no perseverance and no willingness to suffer with the ones they claim to love. As we see this truth in our human relationships, so we can see it in our relationship with God.

The fickleness of our own fallen hearts need to be examined and matured. We need to learn a deeper sense of perseverance and suffering. And while we need this help in many areas of our relationship with God, it becomes particularly acute in our life of prayer.

The mantle of long-suffering that comes with prayer has been forgotten. It has been replaced in many souls by a lightly worn shawl of self-interest and personal comfort. Such a stance is not the posture of someone who loves. Love is about companionship, accompaniment, and perseverance along the way. If we desire to love God, we must be willing to accept difficulty and persevere in prayer.

Prayer is the vital and personal relationship we have with God. If we break that bond, or if that bond becomes sporadic based on our personal whims and desires, then we will not grow in our relationship with him (or with anyone else). As such, we are invited to embrace the interior sufferings of the spiritual life by fighting through distraction, battling dryness, and making our way through doubts and questions of faith.

Those who love desire companionship. They want to know and walk with the ones they love. In our relationship with God, prayer is this companionship. And so, as we desire to love God, we must nurture within us a deep and long-standing habit of prayer.

Quoting Saint Paul, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “’Pray constantly . . . always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.’ Saint Paul adds, ‘Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints.’ For ‘we have not been commanded to work, to keep watch and to fast constantly, but it has been laid down that we are to pray without ceasing.’”

Such a demand of time and energy can only be heard and accepted through love. The Catechism rightly observes: “This tireless fervor can come only from love. Against our dullness and laziness, the battle of prayer is that of humble, trusting, and persevering love. This love opens our hearts to three enlightening and life-giving facts of faith about prayer.”

In explaining the summons of love, the Catechism gives three facts of faith about prayer. These include: 1) It is always possible to pray; 2) Prayer is a necessity; and 3) Prayer and Christian life are inseparable.

The three points blend and complement one another. Each of them is a challenge and each of them relies on the others to be lived and to flourish within us.

Prayer is difficult, but it is not impossible. Prayer is not restricted to any one place or time. The opportunity to pray is everywhere and at all times. There is no place or time that cannot be penetrated by prayer. Saint Paul prayed in prisons and while being beaten. He prayed in moments of joy and in times of desolation. A perseverance in prayer can make any place and any time a shrine to God and an opportunity to encounter and be with him.

As Christians, prayer is our life support system. We cannot breathe or function without prayer and the grace it brings into our lives. Without prayer, we become weak and lifeless. The meaning and excitement that should mark our love for God fades away when the rejuvenation of prayer is gone.

And prayer is intricately bound to the way in which we live. We do not pray in one world and then live in another. As Christians, our life and our prayer are interconnected and enrich and mature one another by God’s grace. We cannot follow the way of love if we have not gone to the font of love, just as we cannot be strengthened to go to the font of love if our everyday lives are not carried and nourished by the way of love.

These three facts of faith about prayer are guideposts for us. They teach us about the power of prayer and keep us accountable as we seek to be with God.

For spiritual help and resources on prayer, visit Daily Discipleship with Father Kirby.