“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” St. Therese of Lisieux, Manuscritis autobiograohiques, C25r.
Prayer is a vital component of our spiritual lives. Jesus Christ taught us this throughout his life here on earth. It can be found in many places in all 4 gospels how Jesus was always “going off, alone, to a deserted place to pray.” Prayer was so important to Jesus that he taught his apostles it. When Jesus openly entrusted to his apostles the mystery of prayer to the Father, he revealed to them what their prayers and ours must be. What is new about the prayer that Jesus taught the apostles is to “ask in his name.” Faith in the Son of God introduces the apostles into the knowledge of the Father, because Jesus is “the way the truth, and the life.” John 14:6. Faith bears its fruit in love: it means keeping the word and the commandments of Jesus, it means abiding in the Father. In this new covenant, the certitude that our petitions will be heard is founded on the prayer of Jesus.
St. John Damascene once wrote, "Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God.” De fide orth. 3, pg 24. We raise our hearts to God from the heights of praise and thanksgiving to God or from the very depths of our hearts in desperation, anger, or deep sorrow. Nonetheless, we pray because of we have faith in an all loving, all compassionate, and all powerful God who hears our prayers and will answer them. Yet, doubt and discouragement can set in when those prayers aren’t answered. However, in prayer, it is important to have a heart of faith knowing that, “God wills that our desire should be exercised in prayer, that we may be able to receive what He is prepared to give.” St. Augustine, Ep.130