How Prayer Meets Leadership

When Catholics speak of prayer, we often refer to our practice of praying the Rosary, or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, or praying before the Blessed Sacrament, or Sunday worship, or our penitential requirements, or our morning petitions. Of course, we pray in many ways. Having received graces from God, we are compelled to continue our prayer life. Psychologically, it is called positive reinforcement. It works. Prayer works.

Upon receiving an abundance of graces this week, it caused me to savor both the week’s events and the spiritual consequences of prayer. This ongoing process of prayer and its consequences assures us of our alignment with God. We have both a stronger faith in God and confidence in ourselves. Prayer aligns us with God. Psalm 27 is all about this. We should read it and read it often.

As prayer is the pursuit of divine love, it is not a projection of ourselves onto God, but rather an inner transformation originating from above. We are transformed, however incrementally, into His likeness. We now have our spiritual compass at work within us. 

As we march along in the direction set before us through that compass, lo and behold, graces unfold. Being open to God’s grace has its own secondary consequences. What a process! We recognize an inner strength we never before realized. We can do things through Christ who strengthens us. Ever hear of that before? It comes from prayer. God has shown His mercy upon us; our faith grows, and everything is recycled. Alignment, transformation, grace, strength, mercy, new direction, and new challenges.

I don’t know about you, but this writer has always had a magnanimous streak in him, looking for new challenges. Don’t you want to lead a full life, a fulfilling life, an accomplished life, a life of doing God’s will? And nonstop at that!? Well, I always have, and with it, I have acquired a few bumps and bruises. It seems ego gets in the way; it is a man’s nature. And so, through a maturation process, we also acquire a certain humility along with these efforts toward magnanimity. You can’t be magnanimous without humility. It is humility that is needed for service and leadership. Pride or arrogance defeats all of it.

When I say maturation, I am referring to the call to leadership and responsibility. Yes, leadership is not effective without mature behavior. The leader is in control. He has patience and patience waiting on God. He gets that through prayer.

Christian leaders are self-controlled. They are mindful, sober, and alert at all times. Thus, the process of maturity leads to self-control. Not prone to boisterousness, not prone to anger or hostility, Christian leaders hold back from argument. Rather than being confrontational, they prefer reason and discussion. It boils down to patience: patience in reproving, patience in exhorting, patience in teaching, patience in managing, patience in accomplishing. Patience comes from prayer.  

The nature of Christian leadership is outlined in Timothy I and II. He was called to leadership and taught by St. Paul, his spiritual father. And this was not fully realized without a commitment to prayer and the Christian lifestyle. As leaders, we need to align ourselves with God, grow into the likeness of Jesus, and find ourselves open to His graces. As stated above, this is what leads to a new direction, increased faith, inner strength, and mature leadership. Let me add one more thing. If our local and national leaders are not all that prayerful, then we should pray for them.