St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) is a Doctor of the Church and a spiritual giant. His life commitment to prayer and writing about prayer will be forever cherished in the Catholic tradition. 

Prayer is truly everything for the Christian. If we do not pray, then we do not spend time with and talk to God. Since prayer is so pivotal, let us turn to some of the most powerful and practically helpful advice of John of the Cross, whose feast day is Dec. 14, that can help fuel our spiritual growth. 

We know that finding time to pray can be challenging. So scheduling time each day for an extended period of time to speak to God is critical. We can use this time to read Scripture or meditate on the cross. 

This is where the true difficulty can arise, for once we turn to pray in silence, we may not feel anything or we don’t know what to do. John of the Cross says that this is natural but that we must keep going:

“Never give up on prayer, and should you find dryness and difficulty, persevere in it for this very reason. God often desires to see what love your soul has, and love is not tried by ease and satisfaction.”

Even if we may feel as if nothing is happening, and a few minutes of quiet can seem like an eternity, God invites us to sit and to listen for his voice. God asks us to be trained in silence so that we can become attuned to hearing him. 

Committing to our daily prayer time, despite these feelings, reveals our deep desire for God, and that does not go unnoticed. 

“Before the divine fire is introduced into the substance of the soul,” John writes, “and united with it through perfect and complete purgation and purity, its flame, which is the Holy Spirit, wounds the soul by destroying and consuming the imperfections of its bad habits. And this is the work of the Holy Spirit, in which he disposes it for divine union and transformation in God through love.”

The desire for union with God in prayer is necessary. However, John also notes that there must be a desire to rid sin out of one’s life. Intimacy with Christ in prayer comes to those who cling to his aid in uprooting sin from their lives. This is a sign that we will do anything and everything to become like the One whom we desire to know. 

One only arrives to the depths of prayer with a radical determination to place Christ at the center of one’s entire life. The interiority of one’s spiritual life will be a reflection of one’s external interactions with his or her loved ones, coworkers and friends. Only once it is all an offering for him will we reach deeper communion with the God of love and holiness. 

Since our God is infinite, and his love is never ending, there is never a finish line to the experience he desires for us to have in prayer. It all begins with his movement towards us and an invitation to spend more intentional time in silent prayer. 

John writes, “Everyone knows that not to go forward on this road is to turn back, and not to gain ground is to lose.”

God’s love, as John knew so well, is recklessly pursuing your heart, and mine, at each moment. 

So, this Advent, accept the invitation. Spend more time in quiet prayer. Uproot sin from your life. And watch as God comes to encounter you unlike ever before.