Time to Pray

"In an age as keen on freedom and authenticity as our own, an argument that comes up fairly often and may prevent people from being faithful to mental prayer goes like this: “Prayer is terrific, but I only pray when I feel an inner need. . . . To start praying when I don’t feel like it would be artificial, forced, even a sort of insincerity or hypocrisy. . . I pray when I feel a spontaneous desire for it. . . .”

"The answer is that if we wait until we feel the spontaneous desire for prayer, we may end up waiting until the end of our days. That desire for prayer is very beautiful, and also unreliable. There is another motive for going to meet God in mental prayer that is equally meaningful and far deeper and more constant: he invites us to. The Gospel tells us to “pray always” (Lk 18:1). We should be guided by faith and not by our subjective mood."

- Time for God, p.31

Sometimes we only pray when we want to, or have a sudden desire for it, or have an urgent need to pray. I catch myself doing this often. At times when I really need to pray I don't because I don't feel like it or simply don't want to. But, prayer cannot be based on our emotions.  I think it's easy to pray when we are afraid, or worried, or when we have a really important need.  But, it is more difficult to just make prayer a consistent part of your day, and to make time for prayer even if you don't feel like it.  Like Jacques Philippe said, "if you wait for this spontaneous desire for prayer, you might be waiting until the end of your days." His words challenge me to  pray and pray often, especially in times when I don't feel like it, because this is when we are exposed to temptation the most, or we may think that we don't need to pray, that we don't need God.  This is very prideful.