Abraham Joshua Heschel, the distinguished Jewish scholar of the 20th century, wrote a beautiful book entitled God in Search of Man in which he reminds us that God first and foremost begins the great search for humanity even before we begin our search for God. There is in the depths of our being what has been called a “God-shaped hole” which we try to fill with many different things throughout our lives.

Prayer is an “encounter” with the God who created us, a sometimes unexpected “meeting” with the One who loves us from the first moment of our conception all the days of our lives. The beautiful scene of Jesus sitting down in the heat of the day, tired from his journey, waiting at the well of Jacob speaks eloquently about the life of prayer.

Prayer is first and foremost a gift from God. It requires on our part a willingness to recognize our own need for God and for his help. Many years ago I heard someone quoting St. Augustine to the effect that “God desires to give us so many good things, but the problem is our hands are already full so we can’t receive what God wants to give us!”

As disciples we know that prayer is at the heart of the Christian life, yet very often we don’t take time to be alone with God. St. Ignatius of Antioch on his way to face death for Christ noted that he was still a “beginner” in the Christian life! In some ways we are all still beginners in the life of prayer. This should give us some encouragement.