"The Spirit prays in us"

“This is the holiest consolation in our prayer.” Karl Rahner, S.J.
Do read Romans 8 this week where we see that the Spirit prays in us. The Spirit of God does not depend on the quality of our prayer to pray in us. Rather the Spirit goes on praying in us with a Divine Energy that gives glory to God. And as Paul then says, the Spirit always prays according to the Will of God for us.

Remember in one resurrection scene, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says: “ Receive the Holy Spirit.” And then exhorts them to forgive sins. Without mutual forgiveness there can be no peace among us, or in our own hearts. He had said to them: just before this:: My peace I give to you. Earlier in John’s Gospel we find Jesus talking about giving peace. There he was quite specific. “My own peace I give to you, a peace that the world cannot give. This is my gift to you.” John 14:27. So Jesus in breathing upon us his Holy Spirit, gives peace in our hearts even when we are feeling otherwise. If we connect these sayings of Jesus and look at our human life, we can know for sure that getting even, holding grudges, even in so-called little ways, or making war, are totally failing ways to get peace. Then we remember that the Spirit of God prays in us and we know that within us is the divine energy to live the way of peace that Jesus showed us by his words and by his life.
Now just think of this: When we pray, the Spirit of God, praying in us and with us, gives immense dignity to our prayer. However poorly we imagine we are doing when we pray, because the Spirit of God is praying in us, our prayer becomes wonderful to God. This is why Paul tell us to pray always. And this is why it is of such value to meditate twice a day and to develop the habit of a walking prayer.

One way to remind ourselves of this gift of God is to make our meditation prayer or our centering a breath prayer. Say your prayer word or prayer phrase on your breath. Giving attention to both your breath and your word. E.g. Breathing in – Ma; breathing out – ra-na-tha..

As Rahner also says: “because (the Spirit) helps, our prayer is a piece of the melody that rushes through the heavens, an aroma of incense that sweetly rises to the eternal altars of heaven before the Triune God. Let us pray.