Ask, and It Shall Be Given to You

Prayer. Prayer is amazing. It is the greatest gift that the Lord has given us (other than the Sacraments which- by the way- all come from the Mass, which is a prayer in and of itself).  It is direct communication with Him! How amazing, and wonderful is that!? We can talk to God, and He can talk to us!
Prayer gives us a TON of graces. It helps us in our walk towards Christ and Heaven.

"Prayer reveals to souls the vanity of earthly goods and pleasures. It fills them with light, strength and consolation; and gives them a foretaste of the calm bliss of our heavenly home."
-St. Rose of Viterbo

"Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven."
-St. Ephraem

Recently my prayer life has faltered. I became immersed in my school life with tests, extended essays, AP exams etc... Sure, I would say a Hail Mary, Glory Be, Our Father before I went to bed or on the bus. It wasn't enough. My mind wandered, I wasn't paying attention to what I was saying. In the middle of a Hail Mary I switched to Our Father and have to start all over again.  I wasn't meaning what I said. In consequence to that I've been doing a lot of thinking and decided I was being very spiritually lazy. I needed some spiritual exercise to get my soul back in shape.

So I pulled out my prayer book "Pure Faith" (which has so many fabulous and inspiring prayers for about every occasion) and started praying.  I have been doing morning and evening prayers and prayers to the Holy Spirit and for the intercession of Mother Mary but, most of all, I have made sure that I mean what I say and that I am truly praying, not just going through the motions.  I've been asking for the graces to get my prayer life running again and guess what! The graces are a flowin'!  I've received so many graces from the patience with my siblings, to energy and willpower to do chores, and some humility and the ability to see what I've been doing wrong, sort of an examination of conscience boost.  All this, after just a few days! I am a living witness to the willingness of the Lord to grant us grace. Ask, and you will receive.  This excerpt is from this past Sunday's reading which really spoke to me,
"But when he comes, the Spirit of truth...He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you."-John 16:13-15
The Trinity will give us what we need. We just need to ask. 
P.S.
Here is the link to the prayer book I have if anyone wants to check it out, trust me its worth it!!

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