Bulletin Column: Drowning in Prayer; Floating in Prayer

The lowest body of water on the planet is the Dead Sea, which forms part of the border between the countries of Israel and Jordan. The reason it is “dead” is because of the high concentration of salt in the water (over 30%), which prevents pretty much anything other than small microbial life from living there. This high level of salinity, however, causes a rather interesting feature to emerge: one is able, quite easily, to simply float on the top of the Dead Sea. The salt makes the water more dense which in turn makes the buoyancy of whatever is in the water increase significantly. The water, of its own accord, lifts you up.

If only this were always true in prayer. Our second reading from Romans this week describes the fact that “we do not know how to pray as we ought.” Let’s face it, most of us are bad at prayer. We’re easily distracted and often find ourselves at a loss over simply what to do. To press the analogy, most of the time it simply feels like we’re drowning. We flail about, get exhausted, give up, and that’s that. Unlike the Dead Sea, most bodies of water will not simply keep you afloat. If you don’t know how to swim, then short of some artificial floatation device, you will go under. This is why we can find solace in the fact that, as St. Paul says, the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness. The Lord knows we are bad at prayer. He knows that we are often lost and easily distracted. So He gives us aid.

But the Spirit will not pray in us without us. This is to say, He enables us to pray, but it is typically not by simply making us float along, at least not at first. As one progresses in prayer and goes deeper, this “floating” in prayer might become more common. First, however, we must learn to swim. This means taking time to stop and meditate. Often enough, we don’t catch on very quickly, but we are given the tools to begin growing, even if not to pray perfectly right off the bat. Think of it as, slowly, over time, having more and more salt poured into the water. At first, it will make no discernable difference. You will still sink below the surface if you stop actively attempting to stay above the waves. Yet one day, you may well find that you are being carried on the surface, held aloft by the salty water beneath you. Your prayer moves from something which requires a significant effort on your part to an activity which is mostly the work of the Holy Spirit.

So let us not grow discouraged or slack in our prayer. Though we may have to swim and struggle, if we persevere and rely on the Lord, we may one day find that we are held aloft, not by our own efforts, but by the Spirit of God Who comes to the aid of our weakness.