Fr. Gheorghe Calciu: “I thought, until I went to prison, that I knew how to pray”

On the Living Power of Prayer

Do not make of prayer a routine. Move your soul. Stir your heart. Let yourself be filled with the trembling power of prayer.

I am certain that many of you pray — I too have prayed. And I believed I knew how to pray… until I went to prison.

But once I entered prison, I realized I did not know prayer at all. If your soul does not tremble, if the thrill of faith does not pass through you from head to toe, then you are not truly praying — you are simply repeating words.

It is not easy, but if you desire to learn how to pray, God will grant you the grace of prayer. If you persist, He will help you, for the grace of prayer is given to those who persevere.

The Saviour said: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” This is our calling — to seek with urgency and fervour the grace that God alone can give.

And now I turn to the theologians: learn to pray so that you may teach others. As long as you do not know how to pray, it is useless to tell a Christian, “Pray!” When the priest himself knows true prayer, he will transmit the current of divine power to the faithful.

(Fr. Gheorghe Calciu, at the ASCOR Conference, Bucharest, 1998, Aula Magna, Faculty of Law)