The Power and Origin of Prayer

In the previous blog it ended with the transformative power of prayer and how we are all being called through Mary to pray more and more even to have a continuous spirit of prayer with God. Here I want to focus on the power effected by prayer and it's origin.  Jesus tells Luisa in the Volumes that if it weren't for prayer the earth and all on it would be destroyed due to the sins and iniquities committed.



“The iniquities that rise from the earth to Heaven are so many, that if prayer and souls who are victims before Me were missing for a quarter of an hour, I would make fire come out of the earth and inundate the people.”Vol.  2, August 2, 1899

“The river of iniquities is so great as to reach the point of preventing the redemption of souls, and prayer alone, and these wounds of mine, can prevent this raging river from absorbing them all into itself.”
Vol. 2, October 30, 1899

 

In fact Jesus states that it is impossible for him to refuse a long and faithful prayer.  Again this is seen in the Bible with the persistent neighbor asking for bread from his neighbor.

⁵ And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ ⁷ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
⁹ “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Luke11: 5-10

Our Paternal goodness is so much that it proves impossible to us to not grant the purpose of a long sacrifice and a prolix prayer.
Vol. 30, March 27, 1932

But surprisingly it is not those prayers where we feel inspired and in ferver which is most moving to God but the ones we pray when we feel ourselves cold and in the desert.  Not that I sure anyone who has ever spent anytime in a spiritual desert would relish the thought of ever going back but it shows that pray, whether we feel anything or not holds great value. (You can read more on the purpose for this Spiritual desert in How Dry I Am.)

“My daughter, when the soul prays with fervor, it is incense with smoke; on the other hand, when she prays feeling cold, but without having allowed anything extraneous to Me to enter herself, it is incense without smoke.  Both of them are pleasing to Me, but the incense without smoke pleases Me more, because smoke always causes some bother to the eyes.”
Vol. 11, March 16, 1913           



But even in these battles of the spirit Jesus promises that he never places a soul in danger by doing so but allows things and situations according to the person's strengths for the good.  However all of this depends on the soul remaining united to God in prayer.  Without this communication with God's love they will go looking for their consolations from other creatures and ultimately fall.

“Do not afflict yourself so much; know that I will never allow them to tempt you beyond your strengths.  If I allow this, it is for your good.  I never put souls in battles so that they may perish; first I measure their strengths, I give them my grace, and then I put them in.  And if some souls fall, it is because they do not remain united to Me by means of prayer; no longer feeling the sensitivity of my love, they go begging for love from the creatures, while I alone can satiate the human heart.

Vol. 1  Jesus wants to make the soul richer and more beautiful and unite it more intimately to himself, so he invites it to sustain a terrible struggle against the demons.
 

Even the creatures of the earth teach us to pray to drive off evil temptations.  How animals will try to avoid confrontations and how fiercely they will fight when cornered and what a noise they will make.



Even the wildest animals repeat to us:  “See, O man, how wild you must be for all that is not God.  See, when we see that someone is approaching us, with our roars we strike so much fear that no one dares to come close to us any more, to disturb our solitude.  You too, when the stench of earthly things - that is, your violent passions – are about to make you muddy and fall into the abyss of sins, with the roars of your prayers and by withdrawing from the occasions in which you find yourself, you will be safe from any danger.” 
Vol. 2, March 13, 1899 



Now how many promises has our Lord made to the saints concerning certain prayers, devotions and novenas?  There are enough to astound in their scope and promises.

There are the promises made for the Chaplet of Mercy given to Saint Faustina.

There are the 12 promises made to Saint Margaret Mary for the Devotion to the Sacred Heart.

There are the promises made concerning the First Five Saturdays made by our Lady.

And how many novenas and prayers:  Listing of Catholic Novenas,   Catholic Prayers and Litanies.  There are enough to fill books.


Although these prayers all have great, even amazing promises they are all prayers of petition in one way or another.  The reason for this is due to the fall of man.  Prior to original sin Adam did not feel the need of prayer as we understand it now.  Only after sinning did man, now a slave, become in need of everything having to pray and beg God in order to obtain something.

The human will renders man a slave; it causes him to be in need of everything.  He feels strength and light missing in him continuously; his existence is always in danger, and whatever he obtains is by dint of prayers, and with difficulty.  So, the man who lives of his will is the true beggar.  On the other hand, one who lives in Mine has no need of anything; he has everything at his disposal.  My Will gives him the dominion of himself, and therefore he is the owner of strength, of light – and not of human strength and light, but of divine.  His existence is always secure, and since he is the owner, he can take whatever he wants, nor does he need to ask in order to receive.  This is so true, that before Adam withdrew from my Will, prayer did not exist.  It is need that makes prayer arise; but he did not need anything, he had nothing to ask for or to impetrate.  So, he loved, he praised, he adored his Creator; prayer had no place in the terrestrial Eden. 

Prayer came, it arose, after sin, as an extreme need of the heart of man.  When one prays, it means that he needs something, and because he hopes, he prays in order to obtain. 
Vol. 20, November 16, 1926




Jesus himself says that while on the earth he only taught one prayer, the Our Father.  One prayer which contains everything.   (For more reading focusing on the Our Father see:  The Promise of the Our Father, Reason We Must Pray for the Kingdom, The Three Daily Breads, and The Yeast of the Divine Will.)



And if I taught one prayer, it was no other than this – that the Divine Will be done on earth as It is in Heaven; but it was the prayer which enclosed everything.
Vol. 16, January 4, 1924



Jesus in placing himself at the head of this prayer has assured that the Kingdom of the Divine Will will come and with it man will no longer need to pray prayers of petition in order to beg favors but will be able to live in the Divine Will, the source of all.



“My daughter, as Adam sinned, God made him the promise of the future Redeemer. Centuries passed, but the promise did not fail, and the generations had the good of Redemption. Now, as I came from Heaven and formed the Kingdom of Redemption, before departing for Heaven, I made another promise, more solemn, of the Kingdom of my Will; and this was in the ‘Our Father’. And so as to give it more value, and to obtain It more quickly, I made this formal promise in the solemnity of my prayer, praying the Father to let His Kingdom come, which is the Divine Will on earth as It is in Heaven. I placed My very Self at the head of this prayer, knowing that such was His Will, and that, prayed by Me, He would deny Me nothing; more so, since I prayed with His very Will, and I asked for something which was wanted by my Father Himself. And after I had formed this prayer before my Celestial Father, certain that the Kingdom of my Divine Will upon earth would be granted to Me, I taught it to my Apostles, that they might teach it to the whole world, so that one might be the cry of all: ‘Your Will be done, on earth as It is in Heaven.’ A promise more sure and solemn I could not make.
Vol. 23, February 5, 1928




Jesus wants everyone to pray the Our Father to pray that the Kingdom of the Divine Will come, pray that each may be transformed in order to be readied to receive such a great gift.  And to make it more certain he prays with us and in us.

“My blessed daughter, you should know that when the creature prays incessantly to obtain a good, she acquires the capacity to possess that good, and possessing it she will hold (the) virtue to make it possessed by the others.  The prayer is as disbursement of the coin in order to buy the good that she wants, the prayer forms the respect, the appreciation, the love that is needed in order to be able possess it.  The prayer forms the void in the soul where to be able to enclose the wanted good, otherwise if I wanted to give it to her, she will not have where to put it, and then you can not give me greater glory, than to ask me that my Will be known and reigns.  This is my same prayer, it is the longing and the heartbeat of my Heart, they are my ardent anxieties, and you should know that my love is so much, that I want to make my Will known, that not being able to hold it back it flows over you, and I make you say:  your Fiat come, your Will be known.  So that it is I that prays in you, it is not you, they are my outlets of love, my loving vents, that feel the need to unite me with the creature in order to not be alone to pray for such a good, and in order to give more value to this prayer, I put in your power my works, all the Creation, my life, my tears, my sufferings, so that it not be a prayer of words alone, but (a) prayer confirmed by my works, life, sufferings and my tears.  Oh!  How sweetly your refrain sounds to my hearing, your loving sing-songs in which is made my echo:  come your Fiat, your Will be known, and if you might not do this, you would suffocate my prayer in you, and I would remain embittered and I would remain alone, alone to pray.  But I must still tell you, you should know that I feel the need to re-trace all my works and sufferings in order to ask me that my Will be known and reign; who has known him and loves him in sight of the great good, can not abstain from asking repeatedly that everyone knows and possesses him, therefore think that I am with you and I pray together with you, when you feel that you can not do less than to pray for the triumph of my Will.”

Vol. 33, July 15, 1934 



Such a great good which is to benefit humanity requires many, many to pray for it, to long for it, to create a space for it in themselves.  The chosen people of God prayed for the Redeemer but it wasn't until Mary prayed with a soul united to the Divine Will for the Kingdom of the Redemption before God that the needed number of prayers were complete to bring about the great good of Redemption upon the earth for the benefit of all.  Luisa is the first to pray with a continuous act of Divine Will petitioning God for the Kingdom of the Divine Will to come down and be manifest upon the earth. 


Yet, you should be consoled, your interior is a continuous speaking before the Divine Majesty, and a continuous act. And a speaking ever unceasing before God, wanting the Kingdom of my Divine Fiat, brings with itself the certainty of victory. So, either you have won or you are about to win. A continuous doing and speaking acquires the nature of a winning power before God, and it is as if God would lose the resisting strength, while the soul acquires the winning strength. An exchange takes place: God is disarmed and the soul is armed with divine weapons, but the Supreme Being is not given to being able to resist. Does that asking Me continuously for the Kingdom of my Eternal Will seem trivial to you? - going around through the whole Creation, and, over and over again, in all the acts I did in Redemption, as well as in the seas of the acts of love and of sorrow of the Sovereign Queen of Heaven, to ask for my Kingdom? You seek nothing for yourself, and you go round and round, asking over and over again that my Divine Will be known, and that It dominate and reign. Not a shadow of what is human enters into this, nor any personal interest; it is the holiest and most divine prayer and act; it is prayer of Heaven, not of the earth, and therefore the purest, the most beautiful, the invincible one, which encloses only the interest of the divine glory. Until now no one has prayed Me with such insistence. My Mama did pray Me with such insistence for the sake of Redemption, and She was victorious; but for the Kingdom of my Will – no one until now with such insistence as to conquer a God.
Vol. 22, August 12, 1927



But now we each must also pray to make a space within ourselves for such a great good as well.  We must do our parts to fill in the desired number of acts needed to bring about this Kingdom.  We must seek this Kingdom with the spirit of  continuous prayer and with single minded purpose we must storm the gates of Heaven.


⁶¹ Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” ⁶² Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:61-62


¹² From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.
Mathew 11:12



“My daughter, continue on – do not want to stop. You must know that everything has been determined by the Supreme Being – prayers, acts, pains, sighs, which the creature must do in order to obtain that which We Ourselves want to give her, and which she longs to receive. So, if these are not performed, the longed for Sun does not rise from Us in the midst of the long night of the human will, to form the day of the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat. This is why many times it happens that many acts and prayers are done, and nothing is obtained; but then, because of another little sigh and prayer, one obtains what he so much longed for. Was it perhaps the last act to obtain the deed of grace? Ah, no! It was the continuation of all the acts and prayers; and if one sees that he obtains through that last act, it is because that one was needed to complete the number established by Us.
Vol. 24, May 20, 1928