“Though I’m quite unworthy, I love to say the Divine Office every day, but apart from that I cannot bring myself to hunt through books for beautiful prayers. There are so many of them that I get a headache. Besides, each prayer seems lovelier than the next.
I cannot possibly say them all and do not know which to choose, I behave like children who cannot read: I tell God very simply what I want and He always understands.
For me, prayer is an upward leap of the heart, an untroubled glance towards heaven, a cry of gratitude and love which I utter from the depths of sorrow as well as from the heights of joy. It has a supernatural grandeur which expands the soul and unites it with God.
I say an Our Father or a Hail Mary when I feel so spiritually barren that I cannot summon up a single worthwhile thought. These two prayers fill me with rapture and feed and satisfy my soul.”
St. Therese of Lisieux
A Story of A Soul
We have a tendency to overcomplicate spirituality.
I love the simplicity of St. Therese’s statement about prayer. It aligns with her “Little Way” spirituality, which suggests that becoming like children is the quickest way to heaven.
We don’t have to find new and better prayers to have the right words to say to God.
All we have to do is pray like a child. Just tell God what you want and mean it.
The Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary is really all you need.
