5 tips on the prayer of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Prayer, says St. John Damascene, is the revelation of the mind before God. When we pray we ask him what we need, we confess our faults, we thank him for his gifts and we adore his immense majesty. Here are five tips to pray better, with the help of St. Thomas Aquinas.

1. Be humble.
Many people mistakenly think of humility as a virtue of low self-esteem. St. Thomas teaches us that humility is a virtue of recognizing the truth about reality. Since prayer, at the root, is a direct "ask" to God, humility is of fundamental importance. Through humility we recognize our need before God. We depend totally and entirely on God for everything and at all times: our existence, life, breath, every thought and action. As we become more humble, we recognize our need to pray more deeply.

2. Have faith.
It is not enough to know that we are in need. To pray, we must also ask someone, and not anyone, but someone who can and will respond to our petition. Children sense this when they ask mom instead of dad (or vice versa!) For permission or a gift. It is with the eyes of faith that we see that God is powerful and ready to help us in prayer. St. Thomas says that "faith is necessary. . . that is, we must believe that we can get what we seek from him. " It is the faith that teaches us "of the omnipotence and mercy of God", the basis of our hope. In this, St. Thomas reflects the scriptures. The Epistle to the Jews underlines the need for faith, saying: "Anyone who came close to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Hebrews 11: 6). Try praying an act of faith.

3. Pray before praying.
In old breviaries you can find a small prayer that begins: “Open, O Lord, my mouth to bless your Holy Name. It also purifies my heart of all vain, perverse and foreign thoughts. . . "I remember finding this a little fun: there were prescribed prayers before the prescribed prayers! When I thought about it, I realized that although it might seem paradoxical, it was giving a lesson. Prayer is absolutely supernatural, so it's far beyond our reach. St. Thomas himself notes that God "wishes to give us certain things at our request". The above prayer continues by asking God: “Light up my mind, inflame my heart, so that I can recite this Office worthily, deservedly, deservedly, carefully and devotedly and I deserve to be listened to at the sight of your divine Majesty.

4. Be intentional.
Merit in prayer - that is, whether it brings us closer to heaven - comes from the virtue of charity. And this comes from our will. So to pray meritoriously, we must make our prayer an object of choice. St. Thomas explains that our merit is based primarily on our original intention to pray. It is not broken by accidental distraction, which no human being can avoid, but only by intentional and voluntary distraction. This too should give us some relief. We don't have to worry too much about distractions, as long as we don't encourage them. We understand something of what the psalmist says, namely that God "pours out gifts on his beloved while they sleep" (Ps 127: 2).

5. Be careful.
Although, strictly, we only have to be intentional and not perfectly attentive to the merit with our prayer, it is nevertheless true that our attention is important. When our minds are full of real attention to God, our hearts are also inflamed by his desire. St. Thomas explains that the spiritual refreshment of the soul comes mainly from attention to God in prayer. The psalmist cries out: "It is your face, O Lord, that I seek!" (Ps 27: 8). In prayer, we never stop looking for his face.