A young woman waves the Mexican flag as Pope Francis leads his general audience in in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican May 19, 2021. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) 
Those who overcome distractions or obstacles when praying learn the value of perseverance in times of trial, Pope Francis said.
“True progress in spiritual life does not consist in multiplying ecstasies, but in being able to persevere in difficult times,” the Pope said May 19 during his weekly general audience.
“Walk, walk, walk on and if you are tired, stop a little and then start walking again; but with perseverance,” he said.
In his main audience talk, the Pope reflected on the difficulties that people may face when trying to pray, including “distractions, aridity and sloth” as well as the importance of recognising and overcoming them.
Both in prayer and in everyday life, he said, the mind often “wanders all over the place” and some find it “hard to dwell for long on a single thought”.
“Distractions are not a fault, but they must be fought,” he said. “In the heritage of our faith, there is a virtue that is often forgotten, but which is very present in the Gospel. It is called ‘vigilance’.”
Aridity
Citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Pope said aridity occurs when one’s heart “is separated from God” and leaves him or her “with no taste for thoughts, memories and feelings, even spiritual ones”.
“Spiritual teachers describe the experience of faith as a continuous alternation of times of consolation and desolation; there are times when everything is easy, while others are marked by great heaviness,” he explained.
While life is often filled with “grey days”, the Pope said the danger lies in “having a grey heart; when this ‘feeling down’ reaches the heart and sickens it”.
“The heart must be open and luminous, so that the light of the Lord can enter,” he said. “And if it does not enter, wait for it, with hope. But do not close it up in greyness.”
Lastly, the Pope warned that sloth is not only one of the seven deadly sins, but also “a real temptation against prayer and, more generally, against Christian life” that can “lead to the death of the soul”.
Believers, like the biblical figure Job, “never stop praying” even when their prayers may seem like protests to God, the Pope finished.
