If you are absent-minded during the prayer and you use the prayer model as a mere formality, you benefit minimally from the prayer. If you pray with the heart, you benefit more. But what is most important is to pray with faith, to concentrate your thoughts and to be in union with Christ, with His death – and the power of God works.

What it means can be illustrated by the following example: A man in a white coat sits at the control panel in a nuclear power station and watches the monitor before him. He does not take the trouble to emotionally experience the process that occurs during nuclear fission. He only needs to be concentrated and to know exactly what reaction occurs when he presses certain buttons, e.g. a certain amount of energy is released which has an effect on something, sets something in motion etc. He can increase or decrease the efficiency of the power plant or even stop it completely. All he does is be concentrated, and monitor and control the process.

Similarly, we need to learn above all to be in the presence of God – to be aware that God sees me. The most important thing is concentration and then I truly become a witness of Jesus – a witness of God’s works.

Download: How to pray the prayer of unity and power