This thread attracted my attention so I checked it out and noticed that most the posts ended last October until the one below, posted yesterday:
Thanks Barbara for such a great thread on prayer . I am enjoying the discussion and observations being made . I know of Brother Lawrence and of St. Josemaria Escriva , each one speaks of praying always and being in communication with our Lord all day . They each speak of prayer in depth also . It is quite interesting . Thanks for this thread . My personal view is that Prayer is not only when we need something . Prayer is talking to our Father . Prayer is being in connection with our Lord , God Bless you , John
The subject of praying always has long intrigued me. At first glance it seems an impossible command. But then Our Lord doesn’t give impossible commands, does He? So perhaps the matter hinges on what exactly does it mean to pray? To most of us prayer implies an intellectual exercise, in which we do most, if not all, of the talking. Sometimes we use formulaic prayers like the Rosary or the Chaplets of Divine Mercy, or single Our Fathers, Hail Marys or Glory Bes, sometimes we pray more spontaneously, we petition for ourselves, intercede for others, give thanks and maybe even overflow into praise and adoration. But in general, for most people, their concept of prayer seems to hinge on something vocal, or mental, in which the mind is engaged, which is not to say that this is by any means a bad thing. But it does raise the question as to how one is then to continue in prayer when engaged in other activities, or worse yet, when one is asleep? How is one to pray at all times when one must at some times be doing something else with one’s mind, or be unconscious?
Of course the point can be made, as it has been in some of the posts, that praying at all times means in every circumstance or in various situations or at every opportunity. But what if it should mean literally at every moment, whether engaged in other activities or not, and yes, whether awake or asleep?
John mentions Josemaria Escriva and Brother Lawrence. I have heard of but never read any of the former, but am passingly familiar with the latter’s The Practice of the Presence of God, in which he seems to posit that it is indeed possible to pray at all times in the sense of “at every moment.” Another take on this can be found too in The Way of the Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way by an unknown Russian Orthodox author. But perhaps the best approach to the question of attaining the gift of constant prayer can be found in the writings of two of the Church’s most famous mystics and doctors, St Teresa of Avila and her contemporary St John of the Cross. Teresa’s The Interior Castle and John’s Ascent of Mount Carmel (among their other writings) are invaluable in coming to an understanding, I think, of what it means to pray at all times.
Of course, anyone who really wishes to reach this goal must be willing to pay the price of self-surrender, of, in short, dying to self, which Jesus in fact also commands us all to do. It is a painful process, a purgatory on earth, but it is doable, if we are to believe these two great saints. Those who persevere in prayer with patient endurance will eventually enter Teresa’s Seventh Dwelling Place, or the summit of John’s Mount Carmel, where they will find, as St Paul did, that “I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.” Eternal life will have begun, even here on earth, for as Jesus also said, “Eternal life is this: to know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” at which point one’s whole life will have become a continual prayer.
Code:
You will not take from me, my God, what you once gave me in your only Son, Jesus Christ, in whom you gave me all I desire. Hence I rejoice that if I wait for you, you will not delay.
With what procrastinations do you wait, since from this very moment you can love God in your heart?
Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me. What do you ask, then, and seek, my soul? Yours is all of this, and all is for you. Do not engage yourself in something less or pay heed to the crumbs that fall from your Father's table. Go forth and exult in your Glory! Hide yourself in it and rejoice, and you will obtain the supplications of your heart.
St John of the Cross, "Prayer of a Soul Taken with Love"
