QUESTION:
When I attempt to pray, I don't know what words to say. What does God want to hear?
Many times when I visit people who are very sick and we talk about prayer, they want to know what the formula is. They want to know which is the prayer that unlocks healing; which prayer is going to move God in a certain way. "What are the words?" they ask. "Tell me what to say."
God's decision about how He answers our prayers is not based upon the specific words we say or how we say them. It's really based on our intent, on what we have in our hearts. We always need to remember that. We need to realize that the most beautiful prayer is the one that's expressed from our hearts to God's Heart. We don't have to trouble ourselves with, "Did I say that exactly right?"
The key to really powerful prayer is to be able to open our hearts to God. That's what God looks at. That's what God hears. It's our intent that counts.
May God give us the grace to express our intent as beautifully as we possibly can from our hearts instead of our mouths.