The Three Kinds of Prayer (Escape, Inscape, Sacramentalize)

In this profound and transformative teaching, Bishop Fulton Sheen dismantles the rigid and often sterile methods of prayer that can hinder a true relationship with God. He argues that many formal techniques are "post-factum"—they analyze the prayer of saints after the fact, but they cannot produce the initial spark of love. Instead, he proposes a three-stage spiritual journey. The first and most crucial stage is "Escape." This is not a flight from reality, but an escape from the noise of the world and the chatter of our own ego into a deep, interior silence. It is in this stillness, he explains, that we prepare the "house of God" within us, making it possible to truly hear His voice.The second stage, which Bishop Sheen calls "Inscape," is the heart of the relationship with God. This is where one is "caught up in the cloak of God," moving beyond formal words into a state of profound, personal communion. This intimacy, he reveals, can take many forms, including groaning, complaining, and even wrestling with God, as Jacob did with the angel. This is not a polite, distant conversation but an authentic, all-consuming struggle of love where we hold onto God and refuse to let Him go. It is in this stage of being "caught up" that our true transformation begins.The final stage is to "Sacramentalize" our lives. Having escaped the world and entered into deep union with God, we are then called to go back out and make our entire existence a sacred act. Bishop Sheen powerfully illustrates this with the story of a humble street cleaner who understood that pushing his broom with a great love of God was a holier act than a bishop attending a council with less love. In this final step, every mundane task—from work to family life—becomes an extension of our prayer, turning the whole world into a stage for God's grace and making us living sacraments of His presence.