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What does it mean to be in a state of prayer?

Through your presence and attention in listening to others and looking at others, you will manifest this divine presence. Sometimes we don`t even need language. All we have to do is look, listen, smile... To be in a state of prayer is to respect others, totally, without ever having a contemptuous thought for anyone. 

How do you enter into a state of prayer?

Why do we say: "Let us close our eyes"? Because, let us not forget that we live in the twentieth century, in a world where time and space-time are calculated for us in terms of money, of reasoning, of logic, and that's why we look at our watch. What happens to someone during prayer? There is a need for concentration. This need for concentration may last a few seconds, or minutes or even a little more time, it depends on the space and the environment in which we are. What is very important is that prayer begins from the moment we realize that we are inhabited, from the moment that the prayer emanates from us as a love song to Him, who we cannot see but who is there.

So, there is no time... We may very well be in a state of prayer in the Salutation; others will be there in the third decade, you see? The power of concentration is difficult for humans. What is concentration? It is not preventing your thoughts from existing. You will not prevent them from existing because the human mind is made for this pattern of images to sweep across it, as the "television" of the whole world. We are the receivers, we are the repository for images and if we obstruct these images, it is our death. Concentration doesn't mean: stop thinking! That is impossible! Rather, prayer is a state of concentration which allows you to be in prayer while letting the images go by; it is very different. Otherwise, we would be accessing a yogi system. Above all, do not put your will into it because how many times have people told me, "Yes, but I fix a point..." And I say, "No! Stop it! " We must remember that God says, "Go into your room, close your door and pray to the Lord who is there in the silence." This means that He immediately puts us at ease, from the moment that we enter within ourselves, we close our eyes, we are with Him. From that moment - it will take a few minutes or seconds, or a little more time - we are with Him, with Mary or with God, it is the same. From the moment we are connected, the images may pass, but no longer bother us. Notice the difference.

- We cannot pray all the time!

No, the goal is not to pray all the time because that would be a mixture of what might be called Goody Two-Shoes, in slang ! It's not that at all. It is to be in a state of prayer in each of our actions. For example, while shopping. You did a decade in your car and then you go shopping. You take the cart, people greet you or shove you - they more likely shove you than greet you - but then, instead of having a normal human reaction, if you are in a state of prayer, you will receive all aggression as a cry for help and then say: "Lord, I entrust this person to you. My God, how she suffers, how I love her, etc." This is a state of prayer.

We very well know that when you go buy your cabbage, carrots or you choose a pair of pants or a pair of glasses, you cannot recite the Our Father. It is just not possible! This is not what God asks of us. When we have a moment of silence, let us give it to Him, but if we are in the world, let us be with the world. To be with the world does not mean to enter into the world, into that world: to be with the world in a different world. He tells us: "You are no longer of this world and yet, I send you into the world." This means that He knows. He has called you to his service. He knows what we are living, what you are living and what your responsibilities are, but He sends you into this world for you to be the witness of another world.

Through your presence and attention in listening to others and looking at others, you will manifest this divine presence. Sometimes we don't even need language. All we have to do is look, listen, smile... To be in a state of prayer is to respect others, totally, without ever having a contemptuous thought for anyone. That is what is meant by a state of prayer.