This situation in Paul’s letter to the Galatians is not far removed from the experience of many Christians today.

With prayer and with life, there remains only to have courage and hope, to to feel the prayer of Jesus strongly and to keep on going.

“A prayer that is alien from life is not healthy. A prayer that alienates itself from the concreteness of life becomes spiritualism, or worse, ritualism.”

Jesus not only wants us to pray as He prays, but assures us that we can always count on His prayer. We must be aware of this: Jesus prays for me.

’Prayer is not a magic wand: It is a dialogue with the Lord.’

In Pamplona, five hundred years ago, all Ignatius’ worldly dreams were shattered in an instant. The cannonball that wounded him changed the course of his life, and the course of the world.

Prayer often co-exists with distraction.

Christian prayer, like all Christian life, is not a “walk in the park.”

“There is only one great call in the Gospel, and it is that of following Jesus on the way of love,” Pope Francis said in his weekly Wednesday audience. “In this sense, charity and contemplation are synonymous.”

In the present tragic situation, when the whole world is prey to suffering and anxiety, we fly to you, Mother of God and our Mother, and seek refuge under your protection.