“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
1 John 5:14
“Lord, teach us to pray.”
Luke 11:1
Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part. It always presupposes effort. The great figures of prayer of the Old Covenant before Christ, as well as the Mother of God, the saints, and he himself, all teach us this: prayer is a battle. Against whom? Against ourselves and against the wiles of the tempter who does all he can to turn man away from prayer, away from union with God. We pray as we live, because we live as we pray.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2725
Reflections from the Pew 