# Bishop Barron - on Prayer

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 7 Aug 2026, 13 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73269759/bishop_barron_on_prayer.mp3



## Transcript

[0:10] Speaker 1: Well, I want to talk today about one of the
[0:12] Speaker 1: most important themes in the spiritual life, namely prayer. Here's
[0:16] Speaker 1: the first observation about prayer. Studies have shown that everybody prays.
[0:21] Speaker 1: Even atheists say that they pray. You could almost say
[0:25] Speaker 1: that the human being is best characterized as the animal
[0:28] Speaker 1: who prays. So what is prayer? Well, go back to
[0:33] Speaker 1: John Damascene, very early figure who famously characterized prayer as
[0:38] Speaker 1: the raising up of the mind and heart to God.
[0:40] Speaker 1: It's a beautiful definition good, but it probably is too
[0:45] Speaker 1: one sided because I think what that can sound like
[0:48] Speaker 1: is that it's all our business. Here. We are raising
[0:51] Speaker 1: our minds and hearts to God. It's our quest for God. Well,
[0:56] Speaker 1: that might be true of many other philosophies and religions,
[0:59] Speaker 1: but religion is not primarily about our quest for God.
[1:03] Speaker 1: It's about God's quest for us. Right, So I would say,
[1:07] Speaker 1: once you see the primacy of grace, prayer is God's
[1:12] Speaker 1: addressing of us. That's why Herbert McKay, the great Dominican theologian,
[1:16] Speaker 1: says that whatever is good and true and right in
[1:19] Speaker 1: our prayer is the Holy Spirit already praying in us.
[1:24] Speaker 1: Think of even a petitionary prayer. You know, when you're
[1:26] Speaker 1: asking God for something authentic, petitionary prayer is the Holy
[1:30] Speaker 1: Spirit prompting you to ask for what He wants to
[1:33] Speaker 1: give you, know, so the primacy of the Lord's involvement.
[1:39] Speaker 1: So both sides are important, but I think the divine
[1:41] Speaker 1: side is more important. You know, if I were to
[1:44] Speaker 1: sum it up, I would say prayer is a conversation
[1:47] Speaker 1: among friends. So it's our friendship with God expressed now
[1:52] Speaker 1: in this lively conversation. So in light of all that,
[1:58] Speaker 1: I want to make you some really simple recommendations about
[2:01] Speaker 1: prayer to improve your life of prayer. Here's first one.
[2:07] Speaker 1: Take the time. So many years ago Thomas Merton, one
[2:10] Speaker 1: of the great spiritual writers of the last century, was
[2:13] Speaker 1: asked by an interlockator, what's the one thing I can
[2:16] Speaker 1: do to improve by prayer life? And he responded with
[2:20] Speaker 1: that phrase. He said, take the time. So before you
[2:24] Speaker 1: get to techniques and theological insights and all that, take
[2:29] Speaker 1: the time every day to converse with God. It is
[2:33] Speaker 1: the most important step. Now that might mean first thing
[2:37] Speaker 1: in the morning. It might be a good time. Like
[2:38] Speaker 1: for me, that's a better time for prayer. I do
[2:41] Speaker 1: a holy hour of right after I wake up in
[2:43] Speaker 1: the morning. Some people might be the end of the day.
[2:46] Speaker 1: You know, that's a better, more prayer full time for them.
[2:50] Speaker 1: Maybe it's in the car. I've often recommended the car
[2:53] Speaker 1: can be a good place to pray when you're usually
[2:55] Speaker 1: by yourself, if you live where I do now, in
[2:57] Speaker 1: the LA area or any of our majors, but you're
[3:00] Speaker 1: probably stuck in traffic a lot. So it's a little
[3:02] Speaker 1: monastic cell. You've got space and time to pray, But
[3:07] Speaker 1: the main thing is you take the time every day.
[3:11] Speaker 1: Here's a second dimension. Now, second recommendation about prayer. Prayer
[3:17] Speaker 1: is the act of finding the center. So our lives
[3:22] Speaker 1: are busy, they're complicated. We're about many things right, this
[3:26] Speaker 1: and that disappointment than this. I'm leaping from idea to idea,
[3:31] Speaker 1: obligation obligation. Is there something that draws all this together
[3:36] Speaker 1: as one? Is there some central place around which all
[3:40] Speaker 1: of this complexity revolves. To pray, in many ways, I think,
[3:44] Speaker 1: is to find that place. So again Merton said, to
[3:49] Speaker 1: pray is to find the place in you where you
[3:53] Speaker 1: are here and now being created by God. It's a
[3:56] Speaker 1: lovely idea. Find that still point around which the whole
[4:01] Speaker 1: of your life ought to revolve. That's what happens when
[4:04] Speaker 1: you pray. When Kirkagar the philosopher said that the saint
[4:08] Speaker 1: is someone whose life is about one thing, he might
[4:11] Speaker 1: have phrased that as the saint to someone who prays
[4:14] Speaker 1: who's regularly found the center. Here's a third dimension of prayer.
[4:20] Speaker 1: I think to pray is to speak to God with honesty.
[4:27] Speaker 1: One of the problems in the spiritual order is we
[4:29] Speaker 1: tell God what we think God wants to hear. We
[4:33] Speaker 1: hide behind a lot of pious language that we think
[4:36] Speaker 1: is appropriate, you know, for prayer. And again I have
[4:38] Speaker 1: nothing against pious language, and it serves a very important purpose.
[4:42] Speaker 1: But at the heart of prayer, I think is a
[4:44] Speaker 1: clear and honest communication. Think of a friendship. You know,
[4:49] Speaker 1: if you're with a friend, but you never tell that
[4:51] Speaker 1: friend or your spouse what you really feel, what you're
[4:54] Speaker 1: really thinking, what's really bugging you, what's really on your mind. Well,
[4:59] Speaker 1: that's not going to be much of a friendship, right,
[5:02] Speaker 1: So with God, speak with honesty about what's troubling you,
[5:08] Speaker 1: what's worrying you, what's bugging you, what's delighting you. Talk
[5:13] Speaker 1: about the messy sides of your life. You know, we've
[5:16] Speaker 1: all got them, and usually we mask that with other people,
[5:20] Speaker 1: we don't share that. Well. God knows anyway, right, God
[5:23] Speaker 1: knows everything about everything, So why are you bothering masking
[5:26] Speaker 1: it from God? Let him know about your guilt, let
[5:30] Speaker 1: him know about your sin, let him know how you're confused, etc.
[5:36] Speaker 1: I love that famous story about a lady who's been
[5:39] Speaker 1: in the hospital for many, many months. Her husband was dying,
[5:42] Speaker 1: and she went through weeks and months of this terrible,
[5:44] Speaker 1: you know, agony with the husband. And so one day
[5:47] Speaker 1: she came outside the hospital and it was a Catholic
[5:50] Speaker 1: hospital dedicated to our lady, and there was a statue
[5:53] Speaker 1: of Mary out in front, and the woman just came
[5:56] Speaker 1: out and she began picking up clods of dirt and
[5:58] Speaker 1: throwing them at the statue Marry, and they went to
[6:02] Speaker 1: stop her, you know, the security, and then one of
[6:05] Speaker 1: the chaplains who was a sister No No, held them
[6:08] Speaker 1: back and said, don't stop her. She's praying. And I
[6:12] Speaker 1: think that's dead right. You know, here's a woman who
[6:14] Speaker 1: was a woman of faith. She had brought her husband
[6:17] Speaker 1: to this Catholic hospital. She was a believer, but she
[6:19] Speaker 1: was expressing her great anger frustration, and you think she's
[6:24] Speaker 1: out of line. Read the Psalms. The psalms are filled
[6:27] Speaker 1: with people telling God how angry and frustrated and upset
[6:30] Speaker 1: they are. So speak with honesty to God, I think
[6:35] Speaker 1: is a great way to pray. Fourthly, and relatedly, listen attentively.
[6:42] Speaker 1: So it's a conversation right between you and God. If
[6:46] Speaker 1: it's one way. If you're doing all the talking, whether
[6:49] Speaker 1: it's informal language or in this emotional expression, well that's
[6:52] Speaker 1: not much of a conversation, right, I'm going to go
[6:55] Speaker 1: say my prayers, you know. I mean, I'll say that.
[6:58] Speaker 1: And the trouble is, and it's just this one sided
[7:01] Speaker 1: I'm just telling God everything. Do I listen to God?
[7:06] Speaker 1: Do I listen to what he says back? Now? I mean?
[7:09] Speaker 1: Does God speak directly? Yeah? Sometimes in rare cases the
[7:15] Speaker 1: lives of the great saints. Think of Mother Teresa, who
[7:18] Speaker 1: famously heard this voice of Jesus and then didn't hear
[7:22] Speaker 1: it for fifty years. But she heard this voice calling
[7:25] Speaker 1: her to serve the poorest, the poor. A lot of
[7:27] Speaker 1: the Saints experience that. But normally God speaks in much
[7:31] Speaker 1: more indirect ways, right, it might be through the scripture
[7:36] Speaker 1: that you're reading. So when I pray the office, for example,
[7:39] Speaker 1: as a priest, well, you're reading the psalms. Is it
[7:42] Speaker 1: you just expressing something? Or is God speaking to you
[7:47] Speaker 1: through the psalms? Think of someone like Ignats of Viola,
[7:51] Speaker 1: who makes us very attentive to our own thoughts and
[7:55] Speaker 1: feelings as we meditate as we read the scripture. So
[8:00] Speaker 1: what am I feeling as I read that passage? What's
[8:02] Speaker 1: that doing to me? Am I feeling desolation or consolation?
[8:07] Speaker 1: To use Ignation's language? Could I construe that as God
[8:12] Speaker 1: speaking to me? Somehow? We Ah, here's another exercise. Could
[8:16] Speaker 1: I even imagine what Jesus would say? Now? I know
[8:21] Speaker 1: it's a little bit delicate, because you can can somewhat
[8:23] Speaker 1: like projection, But you know, based on our knowledge of
[8:27] Speaker 1: scripture and the tradition and all that, can we as
[8:30] Speaker 1: we pose a question to the Lord, can we really
[8:33] Speaker 1: imagine pretty accurately well what he would say to us
[8:36] Speaker 1: in response to them? Can that be a way of
[8:39] Speaker 1: discerning the voice of God? A lot of different methods too,
[8:43] Speaker 1: we could talk about but you speak, but you also listen.
[8:47] Speaker 1: And then relatedly, and finally, the role of silence in prayer.
[8:52] Speaker 1: You know that famous adage of Mother Teresa. As she
[8:55] Speaker 1: talks about the spiritual life, she begins with silence. You know,
[9:00] Speaker 1: silence gives rise to prayer, and prayer gives rise to faith,
[9:03] Speaker 1: and faith gives rise to love, and love to serve us.
[9:05] Speaker 1: I think that's the way she does it. But what's
[9:07] Speaker 1: interesting is what comes first is silence. We have a
[9:12] Speaker 1: really noisy culture, and with our machines now, we are
[9:17] Speaker 1: constantly stimulating ourselves right with words and communication and ideas.
[9:22] Speaker 1: We're talking to each other all the time and listening
[9:24] Speaker 1: to each other all the time. Do we sit in
[9:29] Speaker 1: silence allowing God to speak in that space? I think,
[9:35] Speaker 1: of course, of Elijah here, you know, with the wind
[9:39] Speaker 1: and the fire and the earthquake and all that comes by,
[9:42] Speaker 1: But he doesn't hear God and all that. But the
[9:44] Speaker 1: tiny whispering voice. Well, you can't hear a tiny whispering
[9:48] Speaker 1: voice unless you become silent. How many of the religious
[9:53] Speaker 1: orders are predicated upon silence. I think of the one
[9:58] Speaker 1: most memorable spiritual moments on life was visiting the Grand
[10:02] Speaker 1: Chartreuse in the south of France, in the Alps area
[10:05] Speaker 1: of France, and that was the place founded by Saint Bruno.
[10:08] Speaker 1: It's the motherhouse of the of the Carthusians in order
[10:12] Speaker 1: that's radically devoted to silence. Now most of us I
[10:17] Speaker 1: can't be Carthusians, but I think we can learn a
[10:19] Speaker 1: lot from this attitude. You know, Tomas the Clienta said,
[10:23] Speaker 1: the will has two basic moves. It seeks the good
[10:27] Speaker 1: that's absent, and so you know, we see it and
[10:30] Speaker 1: we go after it. But the second move of the
[10:32] Speaker 1: will is it sits in the good that it possesses.
[10:36] Speaker 1: So when you have the good, your will rests in it. See,
[10:41] Speaker 1: And that's kind of a silent move if you want.
[10:43] Speaker 1: It's a savoring move. I think we're pretty good at
[10:46] Speaker 1: the first one. We're seeking all these goods, but then
[10:49] Speaker 1: once we get them, what do we do with them?
[10:52] Speaker 1: We restlessly go on to something else. Silence, silence. When
[10:56] Speaker 1: you have the good of God, a silent savoring of
[11:02] Speaker 1: that good is key. That's a part of prayer, you know.
[11:07] Speaker 1: That's why I mentioned the Holy Hour before, and that's
[11:09] Speaker 1: been revived, thank God, in recent years, because you know,
[11:12] Speaker 1: as a priest, I have to pray the office and
[11:14] Speaker 1: I can rattle through my prayers. But if I don't
[11:18] Speaker 1: take the time, there's number one, right, don't take the
[11:21] Speaker 1: time to listen in silence, then it is just a
[11:24] Speaker 1: lot of rattling off of words. So silence. I'll close
[11:29] Speaker 1: with a couple of recommendations. I love the Holy Hour,
[11:33] Speaker 1: so if you can do it, that means a dedicated
[11:37] Speaker 1: hour every day to prayer this conversation with God. If
[11:42] Speaker 1: you can find the time, take the Holy Hour prayer
[11:46] Speaker 1: before the Blessed Sacrament. That also has been revived in
[11:49] Speaker 1: recent years. It's kind of fallen away after the Council,
[11:52] Speaker 1: but I think now it's made a great comeback. It's
[11:55] Speaker 1: revived many perishes. Spend time before the Blessed Sacrament with
[11:59] Speaker 1: these five recommendations in mind. And then one of my favorites,
[12:03] Speaker 1: the Jesus Prayer. Right Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God,
[12:07] Speaker 1: have mercy on me a sinner. That's the whole prayer.
[12:09] Speaker 1: But then repeat it, breathing in with the first half,
[12:13] Speaker 1: breathing out with the second half, letting that prayer become
[12:16] Speaker 1: part of the rhythm of your very body. I pray
[12:21] Speaker 1: the Jesus Prayer now every day. It's an important part
[12:23] Speaker 1: of my own meditation. It doesn't get you anywhere, it
[12:28] Speaker 1: doesn't accomplish a lot. It's very simple, calming, centering prayer
[12:35] Speaker 1: that draws you back into silence. It does all those
[12:38] Speaker 1: things you know. So take those five recommendations, follow the
[12:43] Speaker 1: deep instinct in your heart that is leading you to pray,
[12:46] Speaker 1: and do it and

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