“Any day a man gains more by devout prayer than the whole world is worth” (St Bonaventure).
This wonderful phrase should penetrate deeply into our hearts and enlighten our minds, for it clearly shows us the true hierarchy of values. Devout prayer, uttered in the Spirit of the Lord, which embraces our whole existence, traverses heaven and earth and reaches the Heart of our Father.
Having proceeded from Him and returned to Him, it acquires an infinite value, incomparable to anything else in the world.
There are so many fruitful forms of prayer, among which is the prayer of petition, in which a person unreservedly pours out his heart, and often also the suffering he is going through. How could our Father ignore such a request and not hasten to help? Such a prayer cannot remain unanswered, because our Father always bends down to His children who cry out to Him with all their heart.
The same can be said of silent prayer before God, in which the soul and He assure each other of their love, a moment in which the mystery of love between God and the soul unfolds as tenderly as it does powerfully. What can the world say against such moments? After all, only smoke and mirrors.
Let us also think how effective a Holy Mass celebrated worthily is, how much grace is offered to the faithful who participate in it with devotion! What in the world, with all its splendour and glory, could even come close? The answer is superfluous.
But we can ask ourselves whether we are not wasting a lot of time unnecessarily preoccupied with the world, time that would be better spent with our loving Father, who is always waiting for us, also in the depths of our hearts.