The Mustard Seed

In Matthew 13, Jesus offers a rapid series of parables about the Kingdom of Heaven: the sower and the seed, the wheat and the weeds, the mustard seed, and the yeast. The seeds and the yeast show how small the beginnings are, but how great the rewards are. The wheat and the weeds show us that good and evil coexist on earth but will be separated at the Judgment.

We must let Christ sow his word in us, and through us to other people.  This is how the Kingdom of Heaven grows. This requires, however, not only that listen to the word in study, prayer, the scriptures, and the sacraments, but that we share it with others in our words and deeds. This is only possible if, like the mustard seed, we become small and self-giving. The seed is small, and so we are humble listeners. The seed is self-giving, and ultimately becomes an integral part of the large plant that it nourished, so we must give of ourselves and share in the Body of Christ. We lose nothing by sharing in the life of the Church, we are not destroyed if we give our lives in service of God. Pope Benedict XVI points out that.

"If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed... [D]o not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ--and you will find true life." (Homily, 24 April, 2005)

A New Prayer

This is a prayer that I have been working on little by little, and I think that I have it where I want. I've been saying it a lot, and it has been making a big difference in my everyday life.

Bless, O Master, thy servant.
    Preseve me in thy grace
      forgive my sins,
    and make me like unto thee
    by the power of the Holy Spirit,
        so that,
    in all my thoughts, words, and deeds,
    I may speak thy Ineffable Word,
    for Thy glory,
    my sanctification
    and the edification of others.

Amen.

"Lord, Lord"

For those of you that couldn't make it to mass, here is a link to the readings for the day.  It is the frightening part of Matthew's gospel where Christ says that not all who call to Him, and not all who do great works in His name, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But, however, at the same time, He says that the wise man is he who both listens, and then acts upon the word of Christ. To those who do neither, even if they outwardly profess their faith and do mighty deeds, Christ will say to them at the day of judgment, "I never knew you, depart from me, you evildoers."

One could very well say that when Christ says, "I never knew you", one could say in its place, "you never knew me." Those who, with their outward works and profession of faith, are not welcomed at the judgment, could very well be those who did not act like the wise man, who first listened, and then acted. Instead, caught up in themselves, they never emptied themselves.  Focusing on themselves, they never imitated Christ. With Lent fast approaching, let us reflect upon how we can empty ourselvses and imitate Christ. And how we can listen to Christ in prayer, the sacraments, scripture, and study, and act with fasting, almsgiving, and charitable works.

The beatitudes, the great signs of perfection in Christian life, offer us a model for self-emptying and the imitation of Christ, who was both the Message and Messenger. These are expanded versions of the beatitudes which I heard from a homily at Blessed Sacrament in Seattle.

Blessed are those who are convinced of their basic dependency on God, those who keep trying to empty their lives of all that really doesn't matter...the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Blessed are those who wear compassion like a garment, those who have learned how to find themselves by losing themselves in another's sorrow....they too shall receive comfort.

Blessed are those who know that all they are is a gift from God, and so are content with both their greatness and their smallness....they shall have the earth for their heritage.

Blessed are those who are hungry for goodness. Blessed are those who never get enough of God...they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, those who remember how much has been forgiven them, and then extend the same mercy to the lives of others...they, too, shall receive God's mercy.

Blessed are those whose hearts are free and simple, those who are honestly seeking for truth....they shall see God.

Blessed are the creatos of peace, those who build the roads that unite rather than walls that divide, those who bless the world with the healing power of their presence...they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are those who love has been tried, like gold, in the furnance and found to be precious, genuine, and lasting. Blessed are those who have lived their believe out loud, no matter what the cost or pain...Theirs is the reign of God.

Let us prepare our hearts for Lent, and find Christ in all things. Let us make our works and the faith we profess genuine as we grow clsoer to the Divine Word in prayer. How blessed are those who build on the rock of Christ!

Vacation

For many college students, Spring Break is the time to either catch up on sleep, or participate in the methodical destruction of the liver. As Catholics, though, we must remember that, while we have vacation from school, we never have vacation from God. Let this time of rest be a time to renew our relationship with God that, let's be honest, sometimes takes the backseat to classes.  Let's ask St. Thomas Aquinas to help us both with our classses and with our prayer life.

Evangelization and the Rosary

Besides the Sacraments, there are few treasures of the Church as powerful and simple as the rosary.  The rosary, as a meditation on the face of Jesus with Mary, as John Paul II put it, is a tremendous way of increasing a person's spiritual life since it explicitly combines mental and vocal prayer, scripture study, and Catholic Tradition.  As Paul VI points out, we all, as Christians, have the primary duty of spreading the faith through evangelization in word and deed.  Sharing the Word of God with people requires that we ourselves know, and have intimate knowledge of, Jesus through the Holy Spirit. It is very easy to just say the rosary by oneself, and this is completely efficacious, but I would like to propose, for your consideration, making the rosary an act of evangelization. How? There are some simple things that you can do.

1) As you meditate on the mysteries, think of ways in which you can apply message of the mystery to your life, strictly for the benefit of other people; e.g., the Luminous mystery of the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God: How can I share God's word with others? Am I familiar enough with scriptures to discuss them with others? What can I do with my life to better exemplify the Gospel?

2) Invite your friends, Catholic and non-Catholic to pray with you.  A stumbling block for many is the ask of intercession from Mary and the Saints. So be prepared to discuss the benefits of having others pray for you, and that the dead are in contact with God (for example, during the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah talk with Jesus)  Also, the rosary is a great way to get lukewarm Catholics back into prayer.

3) Offer your daily rosary for a different person each day.  Winning grace for others is always a great way to evangelize and convert.

Ad Orientem Pope

There are some good videos on Youtube of Pope Benedict celebrating mass ad orientem. I honestly believe that, if ad orientem mass celebration becomes more common, the sacrality of the mass will become more evident, and allow for the full active participation that the Ordinary Form mass is meant to convey.

Learn the Pater Noster!

For all of you liturgical and Latin nuts, here's a nice way to learn how to chant the Pater Noster in Latin.

Here's a video to go along with your learning...

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator of Beauty (Version 2)

            What does the Holy Spirit have to do with the idea that beauty, truth, and goodness are all the same thing (being), albeit in different modes?  I would posit that the Holy Spirit has almost everything to do with this idea. First we must discuss the Holy Spirit, then we must discuss beauty, truth, and goodness, if we are to connect these two things.  We will also look at the lives of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Francis and Dominic, and Blessed Mother Teresa, in order to further explicate the connection.

             We learn through scripture, tradition, and the Magisterium, that the Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of life; that the Spirit continues Christ's work of salvation in the present time; that the Spirit makes efficacious the sacramental and spiritual life of the Church; that the Spirit illuminates, moves, and guides men and women of faith to become more like Christ, for the glory of the Father.

            Following the ideas from perennial philosophy, goodness is that towards which all things seek, truth is that which is and that which can be known, and beauty is the harmony, balance, and order of things as they are delightful to behold.  All of these modes of existence are fully actualized and unified in the Trinitarian personhood of God.

            Souls docile to the movements of the Holy Spirit become more like Christ for the glory of the Father.  These souls are sanctified and moved by the sevenfold gifts to bear the twelvefold fruits of the Spirit.  As these souls progress to be more like Christ, I argue, beauty, truth, and goodness are more evident within themselves, and that they are more able to see, appreciate, and create beauty, truth, and goodness in other people and in the world.  Since God is pure goodness, truth, and beauty, the more like God, like Christ, one becomes, the more imbued with these immanent and transcendental qualities one becomes.  The more like Christ the soul, the soul is drawn closer to its ultimate end (goodness), the soul more completely shares and participates in existence (truth), and the soul becomes more balanced, ordered, and harmonious (beauty) .  The Life-Giver Spirit causes souls to be conformed to the Word/Reason, who is the ineffable Expression of the Father. 

            But let us look a little closer at beauty, as it is the theme of this publication.  What is a beautiful soul?  There seems to be a close connection between beauty, happiness, and joy.  Happiness seems to be a state of completion, and joy, as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, seems to be an increased and consistent awareness of God.  If a soul were to be made more like God, the soul would more readily take delight in God, since, recognizing God within itself and in others, beauty would become more evident.  The more beauty is evident, the more complete the soul, and, thus, the happier the soul.  The more beauty is evident, the greater the awareness of God, and, hence, the more joyful the soul.  This is not physical beauty, but spiritual beauty.  If we look at some of the saints, Pope John XXIII, they are not necessarily physically beautiful, but, however, something about the quality of their spiritual life makes their soul beautiful, and, hence, more joy and happiness is evident within them. 

            But what of beauty and the Holy Spirit?  The Holy Spirit, as the Sanctifier, is that person of the Trinity who, through the immediate communication of the love of the Father and the Son, draws souls closer to God through the forgiveness of sins (note the formula for absolution in the Latin Rite) and the plenitudinous giving of grace, which is participation in the very life of God.  This forgiveness and giving of grace upon a soul is a direct result of a soul responding to the vocational call to holiness that is the indelible mark of the divine filiation caused by a baptism and confirmation, and sustained by the Eucharist.  As the soul draws closer to God through the workings of the Holy Spirit, its life becomes more balanced, ordered, and directed to God.  The soul, drawing closer and closer to its divine origin and end, therefore, becomes more beautiful, that is to say, it becomes more delightful to God, and it itself delights all the more in God.  We see, therefore, not only what a beautiful soul is like, but we also see that it is only through the salvific action of the Holy Spirit that a soul may become beautiful, blessed, and joyful.

            Sharing in the life of the Spirit, sanctified souls not only become more like Christ in truth, beauty, and goodness, but they are able to share in God's self-revelatory act of  creation.  These souls see, appreciate, and create beauty, truth, and goodness by their cooperation with the Spirit.  We will look at the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Francis and Dominic, and Blessed Mother Teresa to verify and exemplify these claims.

            The Blessed Virgin Mary, during the Visitation, having accepted God's call to perfect motherhood, learns that "the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." (Lk 1:35)  This child was Jesus, the Christ, the Word made flesh.  Mary, cooperating with the will of God, overshadowed, completely docile to the Holy Spirit, brings forth into the world the Word who is God, who is truth, beauty, and goodness.  Mary, as the exemplar of Christians, had, therefore, the most beautiful soul.  She was fully docile to the Spirit, protected from sin, and was drawn completely towards God. In the fourth century prayer to the Blessed Virgin, Tota Pulchra Es, we see indeed that Mary was completely beautiful, and this beauty reflected her sanctity.  I offer this translation:

You, Mary, are all beautiful,

and in you there is not the blemish of original sin.

Your clothes are as white as snow,

your face as radiant as the sun.

You, the glory of Jerusalem!

You, the joy of Israel!

You the honor of our race!

You, Mary, are all beautiful.

            We may turn and look at the holy twins, Saint Francis and Saint Dominic, the great saints and patriarchs of mendicancy, as well as Blessed Mother Teresa, the lover of the poor, and see how the sanctified soul becomes holy and bears witness to beauty, truth, and goodness. Saint Francis, moved by the Holy Spirit, not only becomes holy himself, but is granted the ability to see God in the beauty of nature; he sees the beauty in nature that is only evident by a life in the Spirit, and he cannot help but to rejoice in this beauty. Saint Dominic, moved by the Holy Spirit, not only becomes holy himself, but is granted the ability to find God, in truth, through reason; he finds the truth of the cosmos that is only evident by a life in the Spirit, and he cannot help but to tirelessly preach this truth.  Mother Teresa, moved by the Holy Spirit, not only becomes holy herself, but is granted the ability to see the goodness in every human being, even though that goodness is painful to behold; she sees this goodness that is only evident by a life in the Spirit, and she cannot help but to lovingly embrace it. 

            Saints Francis and Dominic, and Blessed Mother Teresa all found beauty, truth, and goodness as a result of their life with the Holy Spirit.  They also, additionally, participated in God's creation of beauty, truth, and goodness.  When God is praised, preached, or shared with the poor, God's beauty, truth, and goodness are made manifest.  We humans cannot do these things ourselves, but only as an immediate result of our docility to the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit, I argue, is not only the Spirit and illuminator of truth, and the immediate cause of goodness, but is, also, the Spirit of Beauty.  Let us pray, therefore, that we may be made docile to the movements of Spirit, and, following the example of all the saints and, especially the Blessed Virgin, may nor only be conformed to the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ, but may also share in God's creation of these qualities within the world.

            

New Missal Epicness

I thought that some of you might like to see this video. The website is pretty good too.

Old Roman Chant

Some people might be very surprised to know how different our current version of Gregorian Chant differs from Old Roman Chant.  When Charles the Great was attempting to consolidate his kingdom and make everything Roman-like, he sent some musicians to Rome to listen to how they sung at their masses. They brought back the sounds, and also texts.  Over time, though, they simplified the chants, and added Gallic and Frankish styles, and also developed the 8 modes. The original Roman Chant, however, was eventually replaced by the Carolingian chant.

When I first heard this Roman Chant, I thought it was Byzantine, or even some middle Eastern music. It's really interesting, because you can compare the recordings from below with the current Gregorian chant music, here.

Wisdom Teeth

Last Friday I had my wisdom teeth out. I have since healed very quickly, thankfully.  However, it has disturbed me to ask the question: can I still do philosophy without wisdom teeth? Can I digest abstract ideas and mind-numbingly vague concepts if I have not the proper means of breaking such things apart?

The Touch of God

Touch is something that is necessary for human beings.  Our tactile experience guides us everyday, and it is also an important means of communication.  We know, also, for example, that babies that are not touched lovingly by their mothers can die or suffer from underdevelopment.

We see that through touch some of the greatest human goods are communicated; the loving embrace of a man and wife; a hug to console, greet, or congratulate a friend; the loving touch of a mother to her infant; the caring touch of healing during sickness or death. This type of touch is specifically directed to and for the other person.

 We also see, however, that through touch some of the greatest evils are accomplished; rape, fornication, and other sexual sins; forms of violence instigated by hate; all forms of physical abuse.  This type of touch is specifically directed to and for ourselves: it is essentially an act of selfishness.

What this shows is that, while are bodies in themselves are good, the good use of our bodies is inherently directed towards the good of others.

We remember, as Christians, that Jesus was a human: he touched people, and people touched him.  His touch is different though, than our touch. While we are human, Jesus is human and God at the same time. When we touch we can only accomplish temporal goods.  When Jesus touches, however, he accomplishes not only temporal goods, but eternal goods.  We look at the miraculous series of healings in Matthew 9:18-34, the woman with the hemorrhage, the dead girl, the blind men, and the demoniacs.  Jesus accomplishes temporal goods through their healing, but he also accomplished, and accomplishes today, eternal goods: forgiveness, purification, redemption, and salvation.  These eternal goods are all things that not human can gain by him or herself, but only through God.

But, however, it is the case that sometimes people do not want to be touched; rape victims, abuse victims, children raised in isolation, or without love, etc.  These are all essentially based in fear.  The fear of touching and being touched is interesting because it reveals itself as an unwillingness to be open to the intimate experience of another.

In the purely human realm, this fear can be overcome by therapy, or by the help and kindness of others.  But in the spiritual realm, the realm where God touches us, both physically through the sacraments, and invisibly through prayer and the Holy Spirit, this fear is overcome by faith.

Faith conquers fear because it is an opening of ourselves to God, who is love, and, thus, to one another.  Fear is a closing of the self, and, so , faith is its opposite.  There are people who are hard of heart, though, content to be mediocre in their faith, and this is a sign of fear, a closing of themselves to God, and a sign of ignorance.

Why should we be afraid to open ourselves to God? Why be content with a spark when you could have a conflagration?  People are afraid to open themselves to God because it involves change: when we open ourselves to God, we put on the new man (Col 3:10, Eph 4:24), our former selves of sin are put away, and we must struggle to acquire new habits, to virtues in order to grow daily closer to the source and summit of life.  In my opinion, men are afraid to open themselves to God, perhaps, because they consider love effeminate, and the selflessness of religion scares their vanity.  Be not afraid! Our masculinity, or our femininity, is not negated by turning to God, but fulfilled by it, since God is the end towards which all things aim, and the perfection of the imperfect.

Why should we ignorant of God and our faith?  God touches us! We can be saved, we can live forever in perfect happiness if we put in the effort to know, love, and serve him in this life.  We cannot save ourselves, so why should we live in willful ignorance of the means by which we may have life, and have it to the fullest! (Jn 10:10)

When the disciples were afraid during the storm , and when Peter was falling into the water and cried out in fear, Jesus responds, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" (Mk 4:40)  If you have faith, you will have no fear, because by faith you open yourselves to God, to love, to eternal life and happiness. Do not be afraid of praying daily, of seeking to do good at all times. Do not be ignorant of your faith or of scriptures! As St. Jerome writes, "ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ."  Let us pray to God that we may seek, with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, the touch of Christ. Let us cry out as the apostles did in wonderment at the teachings of Christ, "Increase our faith!" (Lk 17:5)

Happpiness and the Holy Spirit

"Man's highest activity engages his highest power with its highest object.  Man's intelligence is his highest power, and its highest object the good that is God, an object of contemplation not practical intelligence.  So happiness is above all the activity of contemplating the things of God"

"Now the proper object of mind is truth, and God alone is essentially true (things are true in the same way in which they exist); so it is contemplation of God [the source of all being and light], that makes us completely happy."

"Happiness is the cleaving to God and the mind's all-fulfilling object."  St. Thomas Aquinas,

The first time one reads this, one often thinks, "well, isn't that elitist! Only smart people can be happy!"  Quite the contrary!  Aquinas says that happiness is the end of human life, i.e., the ultimate goal.  Happiness is cleaving to God and contemplating him with our mind.  This is the end, however, not something that is achieved on earth.  If this were not so, then college professors would be the happiest people on earth. But this is not the case.  Happiness as an end, requires a mean. How do we achieve this happiness in heaven?

As Christ says in Matthew 6:33, "seek first the kingdom of God."  Our temporal lives as Christians are meant to be directed entirely to, first, love of God, and, second, love of neighbor.  It is through love that we come to enjoy that beatitude, that blessed contemplation of God. Aquinas writes that love, "leads onwards to the desire of heavenly things."  Now in order to have Christian love, which is, essentially, a desire for union, one must receive the Holy Spirit who, as Thomas points out, "For it belongs to the Holy Ghost, Who proceeds as Love, to be the gift of sanctification"  We receive grace through the Holy Spirit by prayer and the sacraments, the the Spirit and grace then cause us directly to be able to do good works, to pray, to love, and to bear worthy fruit (cf. matthew 3:8).  All of these make us worthy to be united with God in heaven, where, since all deprivations and barriers are removed, our minds will fully be united in an eternal gaze with pure Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.  We must be therefore docile, and ready to listen to the Holy Spirit's voice, in order to utilize grace, to love, and to then be blessed enough to join God in heaven.  


So through living daily as a Christian, responding to the Holy Spirit's call to love by praying, doing good works, and receiving the sacraments, we become worthy to cleave to God in eternity.

The Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church

After reading John Paul II's Dominum et Vivificantem, and working through Luis Martinez's "True Devotion to the Holy Spirit", I loudly acknowledge my previous and continued ignorance regarding the importance of the Holy Spirit. Here is a brief synopsis of all that I have learned, and, believe me, it has been making a tremendous impact on my spiritual life...

The Holy Spirit is the act of Love of the Father and the Son.  The Holy Spirit's primary duty on earth was first to bring Christ (He was conceived by the Holy Spirit) and is now to continue Christ's salvific work (bringer of life).  What the Holy Spirit does to us, is make us more like Christ, as a sculptor gradually chips away a beautiful piece of art. We have to, however, be docile, and accepting of the Holy Spirit, and recognize Him as the first cause of all good acts that we do, be it prayer, helping someone, etc. The Holy Spirit is the immediate cause of every good act we do. Thus, we have an extremely intimate relationship, granted that we recognize that, indeed, we are temples of the Holy Spirit. The more we become like Christ through the Holy Spirit, the more we become holy, and the more we may fulfill our Christian duty of evangelizing, i.e., bringing Christ to others. he Holy Spirit is the bringer of Christ, the divine Word, who, after becoming docile to the Holy Spirit's work within us, is spoken to others by our actions, prayers, and words.

Thus we speak the ineffable Word of God by our very existence.

WHOA!!!!

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.
V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray:
O God, who taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that, by the gift of the same Spirit, we may be always truly wise, and ever rejoice in His consolation.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Prayer

Here is a little prayer article I wrote last summer for the Daily Sun newspaper of Sunnyside, WA. It is very sparse, and I hope, in the future, to write a fuller expansion. These are just basic concepts I've been toying with for a while.

Why do we Pray? : Aquinas and Meditation

By: Colin Pickett, Seminarian, St. Joseph’s Parish, Sunnyside

            Why do we pray? Christ taught his disciples to pray always (Lk 18:1).  As Christians today we ought to continue Christ’s teaching. Many people pray daily, but why we pray is often overlooked. Why do we pray?  Why does Christ want us to pray? It’s easy to say, “Because the Scriptures and Tradition tells us to do so,” but that does not fully answer the question. To investigate this we will use the work of St. Thomas Aquinas.

            Why Should we Know? To pray well, two things must be known: why and how.  Why should we know why we pray?  Knowing why we pray affects how well we pray; the knowledge of “why” directs our “how.”  The clearer the reason, the better the action.

            Classic Objections. St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274 A.D.) analyzes prayer in his monumental work called the Summa Theologica.  Aquinas, at first, cites three objections, with which he disagrees, against prayer (ST II:II: q83. A2):

(1) When we pray, we try to make our needs known to whom we pray, but Matthew 6:22 says, “Your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.”  Is prayer then not a denial of God’s knowledge? Therefore, it is unbecoming to pray.

 (2) When we pray, we try to change the mind of, or influence the decisions of the person to whom we are praying, so that he may do what we ask of him.  But, “God’s mind is unchangeable and inflexible,” since He is a perfect being, and what is perfect cannot change. If God were not perfect, then He would not be God.  Therefore it is unbecoming to pray to God. 

(3) “Further, it is more generous to give to one that asks not, than to one who asks because, according to Seneca (De Benefic. Ii, 1), ‘nothing is bought more dearly that what is bought with prayers.’  But God is supremely generous.” Therefore it is unbecoming to pray to God. 

            Answer to Objections. Aquinas answers; “we pray not that we may change the Divine disposition, but that we may impetrate [obtain by prayer] that which God has disposed to be fulfilled by our prayers, in other words ‘that by asking, men may deserve to receive what Almighty God from eternity has disposed to give,’ as Gregory says (Dial. I, 8).”  (ST II:II: q83. A2) Prayer aligns our thoughts and actions to the will of God. 

            Seeking the Will of God. To be a Christian is to seek to do (Ja 1:22) the will of God. We also must know the God’s will within our hearts through prayer. The goal of prayer is Christian Perfection (Mt 5:48)  (Ps 101) that  “consists in the transformation of our will, so that we no longer wish for anything but what God wishes, and because He wishes it…” (Rene de Maugmigny, S.J. The Practice of Mental Prayer, 21)

            The Best Way. Mental prayer (meditation) is the best means to acclimate ourselves to God’s will.  Aquinas writes that, “devotion is an act of the will to the effect that man surrenders himself readily to the service of God. Now every act of the will proceeds from some consideration, since the object of the will is an understood good.  Wherefore Augustine says (De Trin. ix, 12: xv, 23) that ‘the will arises from the intelligence.’ Consequently meditation must be the cause of devotion, in so far as through meditation man conceives the thought of surrendering himself in God’s service.” (ST, II-II:q82 a2)

            Prayer and Transformation. Prayer is an action by which we seek to transform our will so that it coincides with the will of God, for the purpose of achieving Christian Perfection and salvation.  It is no wonder that Christ taught us to pray, “Thy will be done.” (Mt 6:9)