(50-second read)

Some of our prayers are good, some are bad, and some are downright ugly.

BLUF

Prayer fixes prayer.

Digging in

• Determining the quality of our prayers is a fruitless task. Even the most self-aware person is subject to self-deception.
• St. Paul assures us that we do not know how to pray appropriately (Romans 8:26)
• an excellent place to start is, “Lord, I do not know how to pray as I ought, but here’s what I’ve got…”
• Sadly, we can go wrong even with the Lord’s Prayer; we have unlimited creativity regarding self-interest and self-deception.
• Improving our prayer life is the work of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul also tells us that when we pray, the Holy Spirit “intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
• The more we pray, even poorly, the more the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. The more the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, the more our prayers align with our Father’s hopes.