Practicing the Discipline and Art of Prayer To pray or not to pray. Prayer calls for the subversive devotion of Mary, a disciplined attentiveness to the only necessary thing . Learning to pray is like learning to play a musical instrument. A beginning student spends countless hours with an instructor in a tiny closet playing scales and rudimentary musical scores. What begins as arduous disciplined practice issues forth in melodious artistry.
Private practice gives way to symphonic excellence.
Lord, teach us to pray . Go into a back room. Close the door. Learn the instrument and music. Become intimately attuned to the conductor.