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At times it can be difficult to see the fruit of our prayers, especially when we try to faithfully pray every day of our lives.
Our persistent prayers will probably never witness a physical answer from God, whereby he verbally speaks to us or cures someone miraculously before our eyes.
Most of the time God's response is invisible, and it may take several years for us to notice the hidden work he has done.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church points out that our trust in God should be bolstered by the life of Jesus:
The revelation of prayer in the economy of salvation teaches us that faith rests on God's action in history. Our filial trust is enkindled by his supreme act: the Passion and Resurrection of his Son. Christian prayer is cooperation with his providence, his plan of love for men.
If we ever start to lose our faith and trust in God, we should remind ourselves of Jesus' loving sacrifice on the cross.
Transformation of the heart
Furthermore, we need to remind ourselves that God's first response to our prayers is always to transform our heart:
For St. Paul, this trust is bold, founded on the prayer of the Spirit in us and on the faithful love of the Father who has given us his only Son. Transformation of the praying heart is the first response to our petition.
God wants our heart to be more like his, and for that to happen, we may need to go through years and years of patient endurance.
It can be difficult to be patient in the modern world, where everything is available to us at the press of a button. Sometimes our heart needs to adjust to God's timing and not our own earthly desires.
One prayer that may be helpful for us to pray every day is the following verse and response.
V. Jesus, meek and humble of Heart
R. Make our hearts like unto Thine
There is also another prayer that leads to a "heart exchange."
O most holy Heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing,
I adore you, I love you and with a lively sorrow for my sins.
I offer you this poor heart of mine.
Make me humble, patient, pure, and wholly obedient to your will.
Grant, good Jesus, that I may live in you and for you.
Protect me in the midst of danger; comfort me in my afflictions;
give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs,
your blessings on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death.
Within your heart I place my every care.
In every need let me come to you with humble trust saying,
Heart of Jesus, help me.
Amen.
Above all, we need to recognize that even when we can't see the fruit of our prayer, God is working behind the scenes in our heart.
