"And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:7–15 (RSV)
What is the correct number of words to a prayer? How shall they be combined, arranged so as to have a pleasing sound in the Father's ear? Where can the strength be found to pray when the words will not come?
The days when a blinking cursor on a blank screen mocks, the devotionals are sawdust in the mouth, when even the cry from depths of the heart sound hypocritical, are the desert land where we discover our desperate need of God.
It is easy to pile words upon words, parroting popular phrases, do all that gives the appearance of praying but have no living word within them. It may be that we surrender any effort of prayer, attempting to convince ourselves that God has better us of His time.
It is in such times that the great opportunity lives to begin to pray truly. For when we have nothing left, no words work, old practices ring hollow that we may start to sense the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is at this place where St. Paul's words finally begin to take root:
_Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26–27 (RSV)_
We cannot pray alone, that is, only by our efforts to offer prayers. The Father gives us the Holy Spirit who will shape the words we fail to find. More than this, as the Spirit searches our hearts, we begin to offer honestly all that we are in prayer. We learn to lay before the Father the unvarnished truth of our lives. It is then we have begun to pray.