Why Is Prayer So Hard?

Growing up Fr. Mike thought prayer should be like soaking in a hot
tub. He didn’t understand why it was so hard when he tried it. It
took him a while to learn that, as the Catechism says, prayer is a
gift of grace and a determined response on our part. Prayer always
presupposes effort. There’s always some kind of engagement when we
properly pray to God. It’s not just about soaking in God’s grace.
The required effort in prayer is difficult more often than it is
not. Prayer is a battle against ourselves and “the wiles of the
tempter who does all he can to turn man away from prayer” (CCC
2725). Over time, Fr. Mike discovered that prayer needs to be more
than a momentary time where we seek solace and closeness with God.
We need to constantly acknowledge our relationship with God
throughout the day, just as a husband and wife are constantly
thinking of each other. Then when we do set aside time to simply be
with God, it happens more naturally. If you want to improve your
prayer life, make the intentional and faithful decision to live the
same way outside of prayer as you do within prayer.