Mutual Service in Manual Labor |
Shared Liturgical Prayer |
Meditational Scripture |
Prayer in the Heart |
Our Lord teaches us to say prayers. But that must not be confused with God's teaching that we must "always pray and never lose heart."
Unceasing prayer is a state of being, a permanent quality of life, an habitual disposition of heart. This "unceasing prayer" expresses itself in frequently repeated prayers. And the sincere repetition of prayers increases the spiritual state, life quality and disposition of heart that is unceasing prayer.
Jesus insists on the constancy of an attitude of trusting dependence on God. God tells us to want sincerely and incessantly the good things Our Father wishes to give us. Unless we truly want them, they will not be given. We must ever abide in a disposition of asking, seeking and knocking. Christ Our Teacher wants us to believe firmly that we shall infallibly receive the good things we ask of God. We must not ask "unsure" whether or not we shall receive. Jesus' teaching on incessant prayer amounts to this: that we live at every moment in total dependence on God for every good, trusting with absolute confidence that Our Father will give us all the good things of God's Will that we ask of God.
The Words of the Prayer
Saying the Prayer
Praying in the Heart
Prayers and petitions are translations into words at particular places and times of the unceasing spirit of our total dependence and trust upon God. Jesus never taught us to say many prayers. Jesus did teach us to pray without ceasing interiorly. And when we do say prayers, Jesus warns against saying too many. Too many petitions reveals a lack of trust, i.e., a lack of unceasing prayer! How many prayers should we say? The right number of prayers differs from person to person according to the grace of each. There is no objective right number of prayers. If there were, Jesus would have told us. Therefore, let every person say prayers according to each one's spiritual desire. Only let us see to it that the fewness of our prayers does not reflect spiritual bankruptcy, nor the multitude of our petitions show a lack of trust in God.
It is true that the first generation of monks used the frequent repetition of short prayer formulas as a way of keeping their hearts and minds attuned to God. This is the traditional monastic method we wish to introduce here under the title "Prayer in the Heart."