過去數週，我們探討過亞道夫.鄧奎利神父有關達致全德的三個內在方法。本週，讓我們看看第四個方法—–「祈禱」。

聖師若望.達瑪瑟解釋，祈禱是把我們的靈魂，提昇到天主臺前。祈禱的目的與方法，可歸納為：「欽崇Adoration」、「補贖Reparation」、「感恩Thanksgiving」以及「懇求Supplication」（亦即取英文的首字母ARTS—–「藝術」）。簡單來說，我們祈禱因為: 天主是天主，我們是我們。

欽崇是指我們在天主內直接朝拜祂，並通過萬物來讚美祂。

我們懷着補贖的精神，在祈禱內祈求天主寬恕我們的罪過，並為一總的罪人懇求天主大發慈悲、施予恩寵。

每天，我們都應該以感激的心神，多謝天主賜給我們靈性上和肉身上一切的恩典。

我們需要天主的聖寵才可得永生。我們是在祈禱中，求得天主的聖寵。聖奧斯定借喻說：「靈魂需要祈禱，就如身體需要食物的滋養。」聖若望金口補充說：「既然身體沒有了靈魂不能活，沒有祈禱的靈魂便是死去和發臭的靈魂。」

此外，耶穌在福音中教導我們，不但要多祈禱，更要好好祈禱。合乎良好祈禱有四大要素：「恆心Perseverance」、「專心Attention」、「信心Trust」以及「謙心Humility」（亦即取英文的首字母PATH——「道路」）。

恆心

耶穌告誡我們不要放棄祈禱。聖多瑪斯寫道：「四個條件—-為自己祈求、祈求為得救所需要的、誠懇地求、恆心地求—–若滿全這四個條件，祈禱必能兌現。」

為達恆心祈禱，我們應忠於每日的神業，例如: 早課、晚課、默想和敬禮。

專心

假如我們與一位要人交談，自然會專注於這個人，和交談的內容。同樣，我們要專注於天主，和祈禱的內容。

聖多瑪斯寫道：「幫助我們專心口禱有三大要點 ––– 專心於禱文的誦唸、專心於禱文意思，而更重要的是專心於天主和我們所祈求的意向。」

聖女大德蘭曾寫道：「專心於天主，就是把我們的心神緊貼天主，感受祂的臨在，認清楚祂是我們祈求的對象。」

信心

耶穌教導我們：「因此，我告訴你們：你們祈禱，不論求什麼，祗要你們相信必得，必給你們成就。（馬爾谷福音11:24）」

祈禱的意向，要信賴和臣服於天主的聖意下。對我們無裨益的，天主不會讓我們如願以償，卻會恩賜我們那些真正好的。

謙心

祈禱並非自我為中心，而是提昇我們的靈魂，到達天主臺前。

祈禱中，不止向天主求恩，同時也在聆聽天主，領悟和順從祂的聖意。「天主拒絕驕傲人，卻賞賜恩寵於謙遜人。（雅各伯書4:6）」「謙卑人的祈禱，穿雲而上。（德訓篇35:21）」

In the past weeks we have looked at three different interior means to holiness. This week we are looking at the fourth one, prayer.

According to St. John Damascene, prayer is an elevation of the soul to God. The reasons for and the ways of prayer can be summed up by A-R-T-S: “A” for adoration, “R” for reparation, “T” for thanksgiving, and “S” for supplication. In short, we pray because God is God and we are we.

Adoration includes worship and praise. We worship God in Himself, and we praise God in His creatures.

In the spirit of reparation we ask for forgiveness in our prayers. We beg mercy from God not only for ourselves, but also for other sinners who need the grace and mercy of God.

With gratitude we give thanks to God daily for the countless spiritual and material blessings we have received.

In order to achieve eternal salvation, we need the grace of God. We ask for grace in prayer. Prayer sustains our soul likes food sustains our body. “As the flesh is nourished by food, so is man supported by prayer” (St. Augustine). St. John Chrysostom added: “As the body without the soul cannot live, so the soul without prayer is dead and emits an offensive odour.”

In the Gospels, Jesus teaches us that we should not only pray much, but also pray well. The qualities of good prayer can be summed up by P-A-T-H: “P” for perseverance, “A” for attention, “T” for trust, and “H” for humility.

Perseverance

Jesus teaches us not to give up in prayer. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “four conditions are laid down; namely, to ask for ourselves things necessary for salvation piously, perseveringly; when all these four concur, we always obtain what we ask for.”

Regularity in daily spiritual exercises is important for perseverance in prayer. These spiritual exercises include: morning and evening prayers, meditation, and Catholic devotions.

Attention

When we are talking with a very important person, we pay attention to two things: the person, and the contents of the conservation. Similarly, when we pray we should pay attention to the One we are praying to and to the contents of our prayer.

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “there are three kinds of attention that can be brought to vocal prayer: one which attends to the words, lest we say them wrong; another which attends to the sense of the words; and a third which attends to the end of prayer, namely, God, and to the thing we are praying for.” The last kind of attention is most important.

Regarding attention to God, St. Teresa of Avila wrote, “We are to fix our mind on the person of God, cultivate the sense of His Presence, have the realization of Whom we are addressing.”

Trust

Jesus teaches us to have confidence in prayer: “I tell you, therefore, everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours” (Mk 11:24).

In prayer we should trustfully resign ourselves to the will of God. If God does not see fit to give us exactly the thing we ask, if He sees that what we ask for will be hurtful to us, He will be sure to give us something which is really for our good.

Humility

Prayer is not about centring on oneself, but about elevating our soul to God.

In prayer we not only talk to God, we also listen to Him, so that we can learn His will and conform to it.

“God opposes the proud, but He accords His favour to the humble” (Jas 4:6) “The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds” (Sir 35:17).