We think of prayer mostly as us saying things. But prayer is more than saying things. Prayer is communing with God. Communicating with God.
Communication is a two-way process.
It involves talking and listening. It is a great irony that in the age of email and mobile phones, our generation is perhaps the worst in history at really communicating with one another. Mackay is right to point out that the first step in real communication is listening, not talking. It's the same with praying to God. Context - Look at the context of this story.