“We must pray without tiring.  For the salvation of mankind does not depend
on material success… But on Jesus alone.”
(Saint Francis Xavier)

To pray is to enter a battle, a fight.
We must be ready to fight for the light.
It doesn’t come easy, it’s toil and sweat.
It’s letting go of things over which,
we would rather fret.

No sooner do we sit down to pray,
But a thousand distractions soon come our way.
There are errands to run,
work not yet done;
And for heaven’s sake,
there is money to make.
There are things to do, and people to see,
Lord, why can’t we be
like the Cure of Ars, who said: “I look at Him, and He looks at me.”

Prayer takes effort, and there is no doubt,
It is work to keep going in prayer,
More delightful to pout,
About all our worries and our distress,
And all of the problems,
with which we’re beset.

We can start thinking God isn’t there,
Or He doesn’t care,
Because right away,
He didn’t answer our prayer.
At least not in a way,
we think we can bear.

And then there are days when our prayers feel like gloom.
Like we are praying at Christ’s empty tomb.
With words that seem lifeless, hope burns and crashes.
Our prayers can seem like dry dust and ashes.
Or a desolate December when all growth has ceased;
Through frigid prayers, we pray for warmth and peace.
Our prayers can seem so empty and bare.
Yet about all of this, so much our Lord cares.

Perhaps our Lord takes frigid prayers, and with Godly art,
Warms them with His Sacred Heart.
Perhaps He takes our prayers,
So dusty, empty and bare,
Fills them with love, as God can do,
Shines them up to look like new.
What if He is simply content,
With fortitude and good intent?

What if there is a lost soul out there,
Somewhere, in need of prayer,
And God uses our prayer to show that lost soul how much He cares,
Just how much he is loved,
from above.

And it helps to remember and to see,
that soul could be
Not just one of our own loved ones,
But someone else’s daughter or someone else’s son.
Touched by God in a holy way,
Because we simply stopped our busy day
To pray.

And maybe, just maybe our Lord in His mercy,
Will have someone pray for our loved one today.
And that prayer will reach them, in a pure way.
Get their attention.  Shake them awake.
Help loved ones walk through faith’s narrow gate.

We are one body, with Christ as the head.
Through our prayers, Christ can raise to life souls which were dead.
And we won’t know details, or the end of the story,
Until we reach our final glory.

May we pray, and never tire,
May our prayers ignite, inspire
Pure, loving hearts, as God desires.
When the battle for prayer becomes December,
barren and cold.  It helps to remember
in the end our dry December prayers can save a soul.
Our December prayers can bring
To a soul new life in Him,
a new flower, a new spring.
May we persevere in prayer today.
Dear Lord, grant us the grace to pray.