“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Prayer is so powerful yet it is so gentle. It can gather thousands or simply bring one person to their knees. In prayer, God stoops down to hear us and at the same time we are raised to the heavenly realm in order to hear him, to be with him, to love him and to be loved by him. Prayer truly is an amazing thing, a gracious gift, a deep well of grace, a precious blessing, an endless conversation, a font of mercy, a spring of everlasting love. For in prayer, God permits us to speak, he enables us to listen, he helps us to give, then he helps us to receive, then he helps us to give from our hearts. In prayer, we are with God who is ever so present to us and attentive to our needs. And he invites us to be present to him and attentive to what he asks of us which is to love and be loved by him but not with half of your heart, not with a piece of your heart, not with part of your heart and not with most of your heart but with all of your heart – in fact, with your entire being for you are loved and you are love. The one thing we need is the one thing we don’t ask for. The one thing we feel we don’t need is the very thing we can’t live without. The one thing we don’t go after is the one thing that seeks us out constantly. The one thing we fail to understand is the one thing that really gets us and understands us. The one thing we really desire is the one thing we fast from the most – love. Love is who God is – love is who we are. Love flows from God for it is who God is – the source, the presence, the essence of love. God loves us from the heart, he loves us in our heart. Have you prayed today? Saint Anthony Mary Claret said, “The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame; he deserves and works with all this strength to inflame all men with the fire of God’s love.” So give God your heart; he will love you for it. Have you prayed today?