The Grace of Prayer

Prayer or contemplation is not something that can be achieved by mere human effort, however well-intentioned or however strenuous. Prayer is a grace. It is a gift that lifts us beyond anything we ourselves could ever attain by ascetic practice or meditative technique. Accordingly, communion with God, actual friendship with God in prayer, although impossible even for the strong, is something God Himself can achieve for us.

Recovering the Contemplative Dimension
Fr. Paul Murray, O.P.