The year 2024, according to Pope Francis’s proposal, is the Year of Prayer. The Holy Father wrote: “I am delighted that the year 2024, preceding the Jubilee event, will be dedicated to the great ‘symphony’ of prayer. Above all, to renew the desire to be in the presence of the Lord, to listen to Him and to adore Him.” Therefore, as part of preparations for the Jubilee, all dioceses are asked to promote individual and communal prayer” (Letter to Archbishop R. Fisichella, 11.02.2022).
In commemoration of another anniversary of the death of our Venerable Servant of God, Father Pawel Smolikowski (September 11, 1926), and in preparation for the centenary of his death (1926 – 2026), let us look at a meditation taken from “Meditations with the Lord Christ” by Fr. Smolikowski.
Meditations on Prayer
I want to consider, Lord Jesus, what is good in us. However, I do not want to meditate on how in sanctifying grace You gave us the possibility of all good, the inclination to it, to contrast it with our misery; nor on how in actual grace You give us the strength to realize this possibility – but I want to meditate on the sure means You gave us to use this strength, namely prayer. Grant me, Lord Jesus, not only to understand the importance of prayer but also to use it.
You said, Lord Jesus: “Ask and you shall receive” (Luke 11:9); and also: “Whatever you ask in faith, you will receive” (Matt 21:22). Thus, in prayer lies all our strength, all our good; for although good in us depends on Your grace, grace itself depends on prayer. You always give grace, but You want us to ask for it. Is it not because, Lord Jesus, in our request there is already the readiness to receive what we ask for, and therefore our cooperation? You also said that we must always pray and never give up (cf. Luke 18:1), because we constantly need Your grace. Do I remember this, Lord Jesus? Do I act accordingly?
Since You spoke so decisively, Lord Jesus, and so solemnly promised that whatever we ask for, You will grant us, can we doubt the effectiveness of our prayer? Yet, there are those who doubt because they do not always receive what they ask for. You, Lord Jesus, explained Your promise: “Ask, and you will receive.” You said: “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matt. 7:9-11). As a good Father, You, Lord Jesus, give Your children what they ask for, but only what is beneficial and good for them. Therefore, if we ask for something that is not good for us, even if it appears so to us, You say You will not give it to us, for that would not be truly listening to us. For if we ask, we ask for what is good for us, and if we knew it was not good, we would not ask for it. But even then, You listen to us, considering our request, and if we ask for something not good for us, You give us something else that is good.
There are times, Lord Jesus, when we ask You for something good, for some virtue that undoubtedly is good, yet we do not always receive it. Is it possible that we truly did not receive it? I must believe that I have received it immediately, because You promised to give everything good to those who ask You; but I do not see it because this good must take root in me, cleanse me of contrary elements, thus causing certain effects. Therefore, when I ask You, Lord Jesus, and begin to work on acquiring a virtue, it may seem to me that I have less of it. For on one hand, due to the light received from You and the ability to better understand the virtue, greater demands for it awaken in me; and on the other hand, contrary inclinations within me, being displaced by the acquired virtue, manifest more strongly. And it seems to me, Lord Jesus, that my prayer was not heard! You can say to me, as to St. Peter: “Why did you doubt, you of little faith?” (Matt. 14:31).
Meditations with the Lord Christ, Volume I, Kraków 1924, pp. 106-113 (meditations nos. XXIX-XXXI in the section “On Man,” the text and biblical quotations have been modernized).