By: Fr. Roy Cimagala
WE need to be more familiar with what are known as ejaculatory prayers, otherwise known also as aspirations. They are short prayers that spring rather quite spontaneously from the heart that is going through the different situations in life—happy, sad, tense, tired, excited, bored, etc. They reflect one’s relation with God and are inspired by faith, hope and charity.
To me, ejaculatory prayers are very helpful in quickly and easily putting ourselves in God’s presence, especially when we immerse ourselves deeply in the things of the world as we ought.
They help us relate ourselves and everything that happens to us to God, again as we ought. They help us in keeping a spiritual and supernatural outlook as we go through the different events of the day. In short, they help in keeping us spiritually alive, and not just alive in the body and to the world.
They help us see things better in the sense that we just would not see them with our senses and our human understanding alone, but also and more importantly with our faith, which is what is ideal and proper to us. They somehow put us in an intimate relation with our Father God. With them, we will never feel alone nor distant from God.
My personal experience with ejaculatory prayers shows that they are very helpful even in making me calm and rested even in the middle of a tense situation for the mind or for the body. They help in making me breathe more deeply and thus give some relief.
Also, not to forget is that they are very helpful in protecting and defending us from temptations and sin. They make the spiritual combat and ascetical struggle, so unavoidable in life, more manageable.
They also help in preparing us for the more serious forms in our relationship with God as when we have to do our prayers, our sacrifices and our recourse to the sacraments.
We should all do our best to make it a habit to say ejaculatory prayers often during the day. Any short and earnest expression of our faith and piety will do. And also in this regard, the many vocal prayers that are already available can be very useful. The “Our Father’s,” “Hail Mary’s” and “Glory be’s” are truly helpful.
We do not have to invent more prayers to be used as ejaculatory prayers. We may just even say, “Lord, I love you, I believe in you, I trust you,” or words to that effect. There are also many other prayers addressed to Our Lady, to St. Joseph, to St. Michael, and to other saints that can be used.
The important thing is that they are said with sincerity of heart and rectitude of intention. They definitely do not hamper us in our daily work and concerns. In fact, the contrary is true. They facilitate things a lot.
This business of saying ejaculatory prayers often during the day should be taught to children as early as possible. You cannot imagine what great benefits they will enjoy when they learn to do it as a habit when they grow up and get exposed to all sorts of things.
Let’s encourage everyone to do the same. There may be a little awkwardness in the beginning, but it’s not something that cannot be overcome. Especially when people experience the many benefits of the ejaculatory prayers, they will readily acquire the practice, since these prayers do not require a lot of effort to say them.
Let’s hope that we can create a general culture where the saying of ejaculatory prayers often during the day becomes an organic part of everyone’s life. There definitely will be an improvement in the quality of the spiritual life of people and society in general.
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
