Conference Nine
Conference Nine
ON PRAYER
. This is what the blessed Isaac said by way of a summing up.
" Fhe whole purpose of the monk and indeed the perfection of his heart amount to this—total and uninterrupted dedication to prayer. He strives for unstirring calm of mind and for never-ending purity, and he does so to the extent that this is possible for human frailty. 1 his is the reason for our tireless and unshaking practice of both physical work and contrition of heart.
Indeed, there is a mutual and undivided link between these. For just as the edifice of all the virtues strives upward toward perfect praver so will all these virtues be neither sturdy nor enduring unless thev are drawn firmly together by the crow n of prayer.
This endless, unstirring calm of prayer that I have mentioned can neither be achieved nor consummated without these virtues. And likew ise virtues are the prerequisite foundation of prayer and cannot be effected without it.
"So it is pointless for me simply to talk about prayer, simply to direct attention to its ultimate reality, with its presupposition of the practice of all the virtues, d he first task is to look at the succession of obstacles to be overcome and then to examine the necessary preliminaries to success.
\\ ith the gospel parable for a guide, one must carefully calculate and gather together everything required for the construction of this most sublime tow er of the spirit. And preliminary work w ill be necessary if the assembled materials are to be of any use, for they will not be able to support the sublime reality of perfection unless we unload all our vices and rid our souls of the w reck and rubble
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of passion.
Then simplicity and humility must be laid as sure foundations on, as they say, the liv ing solid earth of our hearts, on that rock of w hich Scripture speaks, d here the tow er to be built vv ith our v irtues may rest unshakably and rise vv ith utter assurance to the heights of the skies.
Fhat tower resting on such foundations will not crumble, will feel no shock even w hen the mighty torrents of passion come pouring against it, w hen the raging tides of persecution are like a battering ram against its w alls, vv hen the cruel hurricane of storming dev ils pounds and thunders against it.
Prayer, if it is to be ferv ent and pure, demands that the follow ing be observ ed.
"First, there must be a complete remov al of all concern for bodily things, d'hen not just the worry but even the memory of any business or worldly affair must be banished from within ourselves. (>alumny, empty talk, nattering, low -grade clow ning—suchlike must be cut out.
.\nger and the disturbance caused by gloominess are especially to be eradicated.
Fhe poisonous tinder of carnal desire and avarice must be pulled out by the roots.
"I laying completely expelled and sliced away these and similar yices w hich are so manifest to the human eye, haying, as I have said, undertaken this clearing aw ay w hich results in purity and in the simplicity of innocence, we hav e then to lay the indestructible foundations of deep humility, foundations which can support that tower rising upw ard to the skies. Next comes the spiritual edifice of yirtue. After that, the soul must be restrained from all meandering, from all slippery vv anderings, so that it may rise bit by bit to the contemplation of Cjod and to the gazing upon the realms of the spirit. Because of the w orkings of memory vv hatever has preoccupied our mind before the time for prayer must of necessity intrude on our actual prayers.
I'herefore in adv ance of prayer vye must strive to dispose ourselv es as w e would wish to be during prayer, d he praying spirit is shaped by its own earlier condition. As we prostrate ourselves for prayer our deeds, words, and fastings rise up in our imagination.
Fhey are as they wore before our prayer, and they moye us to anger or gloom. We turn back tow ard desire or worldly affairs. Stupidly—and I am ashamed to say it—we laugh as w e recall some clow nish word or act, and the mind flits back to the earlier concerns of our talk.
"So therefore before we pray we must hasten to drive from our
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heart's sanctuary anvthingf we would not wish to intrude on our
^ prayers, and all this so that we might do as the apostle bids us: 'Pray ceaselessly' (1 Thes 5:17).
'In every place lift up pure hands, w ith no anger and no rivalry' (1 Tm 2:8). But we w ill not be able to fulfill this injunction unless the mind within us is cleansed of the contagion of sin, is devoted to virtue as its natural good, and feeds continuously on the contemplation of the all-pow erful God.
I he soul may quite sensibly be compared to the finest dow n and the lightest feather which, if spared the onset and penetration of dampness from without, have a nature so mobile that at the slightest breeze they rise up of themselves to the highest points of the sky. But if they are w eighed dow n by any splash, any dampening of moisture, not only w ill there be no natural impulse to fly up into the air but the pressure of the absorbed liquid will drag them dow nw ard to earth.
"So too w ith our soul.
If sin and worldly preoccupation have not weighed it dow n, if dangerous passion has not sullied it, then, lifted up by the natural goodness of its purity, it will rise to the heights on the lightest breath of meditation and, leaving the low ly things, the things of earth, it w ill travel upw ard to the heavenly and the invisible.
"And so we are quite rightly admonished bv the Lord's command:
'See to it that your hearts are not weighed dow n in drunkenness and intoxication and in the concerns of every day' (Lk 21:34).
I herefore if we wish our prayers to reach upward to the heavens and beyond we must ensure that our mind is cleared of every earthly defect and cleansed of all passion's grip and is so light of itself that its prayer, free of sin's w eighty load, will rise upw ard to (iod.
"W'e should take care to observe the reasons mentioned by the Ivord for the loading down of the mind.
I le was not talking of adultery, of fornication, of murder, of blasphemy, of robbery. I'hese, as everyone knows, bring death and damnation. But w hat
I le mentioned w ere drunkenness, intoxication, and earthly worries and concerns. No man of the world thinks of such things as dangerous or judges them to be damnable. Indeed—and it shames me to say this—there are some bearing the title of monk w ho turn to such distractions as though they w ere innocent, even useful.
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" These three vices literally v\ eigh clow n the soul w hich indulges in them.
They turn the soul awav from (iod and drag it down to earth.
Vet they can easily be shunned, especially by us w ho are so well rcmoyed from the world and from its way of life, and who hav e no reason at all to be caught up in such palpable concerns, in such intoxication and drunkenness.
"but there is another kind of drunkenness, one no less poisonous.
There is an intoxication of the spirit which is harder to avoid.
There is another type of worldly care and concern. And even after we have utterly renounced the good things that are ours, even as w e completely renounce wine and good fare, even when we arc totally alone, these things frequently ensnare us. 'Wake up,' says the prophet. 'You arc drunk, but not on wine'
(]1 1:5).
Another says:
'Be stupified and stunned, waver and change your minds. You are drunk, but not on w ine. You stagger, but not from intoxication' (Is 29:9). The wine causing such intoxication must be what the prophet calls 'the rage of dragons' (l)t 32:33), and its source is, as he says 'the v ine from the vineyard of Sodom, their branches from Gomorra' (Dt 32:32). And would you like to know more about the fruit of this vine and the product of this branch?
' Their grapes are poisonous grapes, their clusters are envenomed' (Dt 32:32).
" Therefore if w e are not completely cleansed from all sin, if we are not free of the intoxication of all passion, our abandonment of too much wine and of well-laid meals will be useless, and our hearts w ill bear the weight of a much deadlier intoxication and drunkenness.
"It was laid down by the fathers that worldly cares may preoccupy us even though we are not at all involved in the doings of this w orld.
The fathers affirmed that ev erything over and above the needs of daily life and the strict requirements of the body must be reckoned among the worries and concerns of the world, so that, for example, when a single coin would meet the necessities of our bodies we choose in our effort and in our work to earn two or even three. Similarly with a couple of tunics.
It is sufficient to have one for the night and one for the day, but we try to have three or four. One or two cells would be enough to live in, but wishing as the world does for possessions, to have more and more, we build four or five cells and we aim to have them better furnished and more spacious than our needs require. In such things we display as much as we can of passion and covetousness.
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"F^perience shows us that all this is at the promptings of demons.
"One of the w isest of the fathers w as passing by the cell of a brother who was afflicted by this spiritual sickness to w hich
I have been referring. Every day this man toiled w orriedly at useless additions and repairs, and from a distance the father saw him trying to break a hard rock with a heavy hammer.
I le saw too an FLthiopian standing beside him, lending a hand in striking the hammer blows and urging him on w ith blazing torches to continue his w ork. Ehe father stood a long time, amazed at the impact of this most cruel demon and at the deceit w orked by this immense illusion. W hen the exhausted brother w ished to take a rest and to put an end to his w ork the spirit stirred and shook him up and he had to pick up the hammer and, w ith the same zeal, continue the work he had begun. Endlessly urged on he completely failed to understand the harm of such excessive labor.
"The old man w as deeply moved by this diabolical trickery.
I le turned from the direction he had been taking and went to the cell of his brother.
1 le greeted him.
'My brother,' he said, 'what is this work you are doing?'
'W'e are struggling w ith this extremely hard rock and we can barely manage to break it.'
' the old man remarked, 'for you have 'S'ou are right to say "we" not been alone in tackling it. 1 here w as someone else w ith you, someone you did not see, someone w ho was not so much helping you as viciously driving you on.'
"It w ill not be sufficient proof of our souls' freedom from the disease of worldly ambition that we keep aw ay from matters which are beyond our aspirations and with which we cannot deal, even if we wanted to. Nor w ill it be a proof if we show contempt for w hat is beyond our reach. W hat w e have first to do is to show contempt for ourselves before spiritual men and before men of the world. And the proof in question will appear when we thrust aside that w hich lies within our control and which could be cloaked in seemingly good purposes. Such things must mean nothing to us. And yet we see men of our profession thoughtlessly preoccupied with them, and the reality is that such nothings weigh down our souls just as much as more substantial matters preoccupy men of the world. Such things ensure that the monk is loaded w ith the w orld's dross and unable to breathe freely before (iod.
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\\ liich, indeed, is \\ hat the monk should v\ ish with all his heart to do.
Kor him the least separation from the sovereign (jood should appear to be a veritable death, the worst of all.
"W hen the soul is solidlv rooted in this peacefulness, when it is freed of the bonds of everv carnal urge, when the unshaking thrust of the heart is toward the one supreme Ciood, then the words of the apostle will be fulfilled. 'Prav v\ithout cease,' he said (1 fhes 5:17). 'In everv place lift up pure hands, w ith no anger and no rivalry' (1 Tm 2:8). Sensibilitv is, so to speak, absorbed by this purity.
It is reshaped in the likeness of the spiritual and the angelic so that all its dealings, all its activitv w ill be prayer, utterly pure, utterly without tarnish."
Ciermanus: "If only we could continue to hold on to those seeds of spiritual thought in the same way and with the same ease as w e originate them! fhey come alive in our hearts as we think back to Scripture, or at the reminder of some spiritual act or as w e contemplate some heavenly mysteries, and then, w ithout our knowing it, they very quickly fly away and v anish. No sooner does the mind discov er some other opportunities for spiritual thoughts than something else breaks in and what was grasped now slips and glides off. fhe soul cannot hold still.
It is unable to keep its grip on holy thoughts. Even w hen it seems to have caught on to them, it looks as if its possession of them is the result not of effort but of chance. Indeed, how' can the fact that they rise up within us be ascribed to any choice of ours when we actually hav e no ¥
capacity to keep them there w ithin us?
"But I would prefer not to allow the consideration of this matter to take us too far from our theme or to delay what you propose to explain regarding the nature of prayer.
It can be looked at in due time.
W hat we w ish to ask you now is to tell us about the nature of prayer, and we do so particularly since the blessed apostle warns us never to cease from our prayer. 'Pray without cease' (1 fhes 5:17).
"First, then, wx* would like you to tell us about the nature of prayer, about the character it should always haye. Then we would like you to tell us how' to keep with it in all its forms, how' to engage in it w ithout interruption.
It cannot be achieved by a poorly stirred heart.
W'e know this from everyday experience and we know' it too from those words of your holiness in which you defined the objective of the monk and the high-point of perfection as 'the consummation of prayer.' "
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Isaac: "Apart from great purity of intent and of soul, as w ell as the illumination of the I loly Spirit, there is nothing, I believe, w hich can mark off all the forms of prayer from one another. The differences are as great and as numerous as can be encountered w ithin a single soul or, rather, within all souls in all their various conditions and states.
I recognize that my own insensitivity makes it impossible for me to perceive them all.
Still, to the extent allow ed bv mv ow n poor experience, I will trv to describe them.
"Praver changes at every moment in proportion to the degree of purity in the soul and in accordance w ith the extent to w hich the soul is moved either by outside influence or of itself. Certainly the same kind of prayers cannot be uttered continuously by any one person. A lively person prays one w av. A person brought dow n bv the w eight of gloom or despair prays another. One prays another way when the life of the spirit is flourishing, and another way when pushed down bv the mass of temptation. One prays differently, depending on whether one is seeking the gift of some grace or virtue or the removal of some sinful vice. The praver is different once again when one is sorrow ing at the thought of hell and the fear of future judgment, or when one is fired by hope and longing for future blessedness, when one is in need or peril, in peace or tranquility, hen one is flooded v\ ith the light of heavenly mysteries or w hen one is hemmed in by aridity in virtue and staleness in one's thinking.
"So much for the differences within prayer, and they touch all too briefly on a theme of major substance. So much for them, however, since I have so little time in w hich to discuss them, and in any case the dimness of mv ow n mind and the dullness of my ow n heart cannot fully take them in. But there is a more serious difficulty here, namely to describe the different types of prayers.
"The apostle notes four types. 'Mv advice is that first of all supplication should be offered up for everyone, prayers, pleas, and thanksgiving'
(1 d m 2:1). Now one may be sure that this division was not f(K)lishlv made bv the apostle. So we must first inquire what is meant bv praver, by petitions, bv intercessions, and by thanksgiving.
Then we must discover w hether all are linked together at the same time in the one supplication, or whether they must be utilized one by one and
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separately. Should one offer petitions now, prayers some other time, or should one person offer intercessions now, another prayers, another blessings to (iod—and all this in accordance with the measure of age in \\ hich each soul manifests the effort of its zeal.
" rhe first item to be discussed is the exact meaning of the terms.
\\ hat is the difference between prayer, supplication, and plea? Then the question must be asked whether these must be utilized one by one or together. And thirdly there is the question of whether the order laid dow n by the authority of the apostle has something more by way of instruction for the listener. Can the distinction made by the apostle be taken simply as it stands? Did he make it without any further purpose in mind? Actually, this last would seem absurd to me.
It is incredible that the 1 loly Spirit spoke through the apostle something that was transitory and purposeless. Therefore with the Lord's help we will consider these types one by one, in the sequence given above.
" 'My advice is that supplication should be offered up for everyone.' A supplication is a plea or petition made on account of present and past sin by someone who is moved by contrition to seek pardon.
"In prayers we offer or promise something to God. The Greek term means 'vow.' Greek has 'I shall offer my vows to the Lord' and in Latin it is 'I shall do what I have promised to the Lord' (Ps 1 17:14), which, according to the sense of the term, may be taken as 'I shall make my prayers to the Lord.' In Ecclesiastes we read: 'If you have made a promise to God do not delay in fulfilling it' (Eccl 5:3). The Greek has 'If you are to pray to the Lord, do not delay about it.'
" Phis is how each of us must do this. We pray when we renounce this world, w hen w e undertake to die to all the world's deeds and mode of living and to serve the Lord with all our heart's zeal. We pray when we promise to despise w orldly glory and earth's riches and to cling to the Ivord with contrite hearts and poverty of spirit. We pray w hen we promise to put on the purest bodily chastity and unsw erving patience or when we vow to drag completely from our hearts the root of anger and the gleam which is the harbinger of death. And if w e are brought down by laziness, if we return to our old sinful ways because of not
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doing at all what we promised, we shall have to answer for our prayers and our commitments and it will be said of us, 'Better not to promise than to promise and not deliver.' As the Greek would have it, 'It is better that you do not pray than that, having prayed, you do not do as you had undertaken' (Eccl 5:4).
"Third come pleas.
VV e usually make them for others when we ourselves are deeply moved in spirit. VVe offer them for those dear to us or when we beg for peace in the world or, to borrow' the words of the apostle, w hen we are suppliants 'on behalf of all men, on behalf of rulers and on behalf of all those in high places' (1 Tm 2:1-2).
"Fourth are thanksgivings. Unspeakably moved by the memory of God's past kindnesses, by the vision of what he now grants or by all that He holds out as a future rew ard to those who love Him, the mind gives thanks. In this perspective richer prayers are often uttered. Looking w ith purest gaze at the rew ards promised to the saints, our spirit is moved by measureless joy to pour out wordless thanksgiving to God.
"These, then, are the four rich sources of prayer. Out of contrition for sin is supplication born. Prayer comes of the fidelity to promises and the fulfillment of w hat w e have undertaken for the sake of a pure conscience. Pleading comes forth from the warmth of our love. Thanksgiving is generated by the contemplation of God's goodness and greatness and faithfulness. And all this, as we know
, often evokes the most fervent and fierv prayers.
"Hence all of these types of prayer of w hich I have been speaking are valuable for all men, and indeed quite necessary. And so one man will now' offer supplication, prayer then, later the purest and most zealous pleas.
"Nevertheless, the first type seems especially appropriate for beginners, for they are still goaded by the stings and by the memory of past sin. The second type is appropriate for those w ho are making progress in the acquisition of virtue and in the exaltedness of their souls, d he third is suitable for those who live as they have promised to do, who see the frailty of others and who speak out for them because of the charity that moves them. The fourth suits those who have pulled the painful
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thorn of penitence out of their hearts and w ho in the tjuiet ot their purified spirit contemplate the kindness and mercy that the Lord has show n them in the past, that 1 le gives them now and that 1 le makes ready for them in the future. Aflame with all this their hearts are rapt in the burning prayer w hich human words can neither grasp nor utter.
Sometimes the soul w hich has come to be rooted in this state of real purity takes on all the forms of prayer at the same time.
It flies from one to the other, like an uncontrollable grasping fire.
It becomes an outpouring of living pure prayer w hich the I loly Spirit, w ithout our know ing it, lifts up to (iod in unspeakable groanings.
It conceives so much w ithin itself at that instant, unspeakably pours forth so much in supplication, that it could not tell you of it at another time nor even remember it all.
"It may also happen that one can pray intensely and purely even at the first and lov\ liest stage when the mind is on the judgment to come.
I he soul, trembling with fright and fear at the thought of the examination and judgment, is touched at that hour by contrition, and out from its supplication comes an abundance of spiritual fervor so that it is as possessed as that soul w hich in shining purity contemplates the goodness of God and dissolves in unspeakable joy and happiness.
It is all the more loving, as the Lord said, because of all that extra forgiveness w hich it knows it has received.
"But with an ever more perfect life and by perfect virtue we especially must be carried along tow ard the types of prayer which are rooted in the contemplation of eternal goodness and in a fervor of love.
If I may use humbler language and words more suited to the measure of beginners, we must be carried along toward the forms of prayer w hich arise out of the w ish to acquire a virtue or the urge to kill off a vice. In no w ay can our spirit attain those more exalted modes of prayer of w hich I have been speaking except by the step-bv-step journey upward through all those pleas we pour forth.
I he Lord 1 limself deigned to initiate those four types of prayer and I le gave us examples of them, so that there w as a fulfillment of those words said of I lim: 'What Jesus began to do and to teach' (Acts
1 ).
"I le offers a supplieation when He says: 'Father, if possible, let
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this chalice pass from me' (Mt 26:39). And there are the words put in His mouth in the psalm 'Mv God, my God, look at me. W hy have vou abandoned me?' (Ps 21:2). And there are others like this.
"There is a prayer when He says:
'I have glorified vou on earth and I have finished the work which you gave me to do' (|n
17:4). And this: 'For their sake I consecrate mvself so that they mav be consecrated in the truth' (Jn 17:19).
"There is a plea when He says: 'Father, I wish those you have given me to be w ith me \\ here I am so that thev mav see the glory which you have given me' (Jn 1 7:24). And He certainly makes a plea when
I le says: 'Father, forgive them for they do not know \\ hat they are doing'
(Lk 23:24).
"There is blessing when He says:
'I confess to you. Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for vou have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and have revealed them to the lowiy. Yes indeed. Father, for this is what has pleased you' (.\lt 1 1:25-26). A blessing there surely is when I le says: 'Father, I thank you because you have listened to me. Indeed I knew that you always listened to me' (^)n
1 1:41-42).
"It is clear to us that these types of prayer can be distinguished and also used at different times. However, the Lord also showed by example that they can all be put together in one perfect prayer, as in that prayer w hich, as we read at the end of the gospel of John,
I le poured forth in such abundance.
It would take too long to cite the w hole text but a careful inquirer can discover for himself that matters are indeed as I have said.
"The apostle in his letter to the Philippians clearly expresses this same idea though he cites the four types of prayer in a somew hat different order.
I le shows that they must be offered up out of the one burning zeal.
I his is what he says: 'In your every prayer and supplication let your pleas be included in your blessings to (iod' (Phil 4:6).
\\ hat he w anted in particular to teach us v\'as that in our prayer and supplication blessings should be mingled with our pleas.
".\ state of soul more exalted and more elevated w ill follow upon these types of prayer.
It w ill be shaped by the contemplation of (iod alone and by the fire of love, and the mind, melted and cast dow n into this love, speaks freely and respectfully to God, as though to one's ow n father.
"V\'e must be careful to aspire to this state of soul.
Phis is what the
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beginning of the Lord's prayer tells us w hen it says 'Our Father' (Mt 6:9). W ith our ow n voice w e proclaim that the (iod, the Lord of the universe, is our f ather and w e thereby assert that we have l)een called out of the state of servitude to adoption as sons.
" Lo this we add 'who are in heaven' and we do so to mark the fact that the delay we make during this life of ours on earth is a kind of exile keeping us very distant from our Father. In all terror let us hasten out of it and w ith all longing let us rush tow ard that domain which we proclaim to be the abode of our Father. May nothing w e do make us unworthy of our profession and the dignity of so wonderful an adoption.
May nothing deprive us, like degenerate sons, of the heritage of our Father. May nothing cause us to run into His justice and His anger.
"Drawn as we are to the rank and status of sons w e w ill burn with that continuous respectfulness characteristic of good sons. We w ill think no more of our ow n advantage. Our zeal wall be poured out, all of it, for the sake of our Father's glory. We will say 'hallow ed be your name,' and we shall bear witness that our longing, our joy, is for the glory of our Father. We shall be imitators of the one who said thus:
'I le w ho talks about himself is looking for his ow n glory. As for the one who seeks the glory of whoever sent him, he is telling the truth and there is no injustice in him' (Jn 7:18).
"Paul, the 'vessel of election,' w as filled w ith such a sentiment. He is even prepared to be anathema to Christ so long as his household grov\ s and so long as the salvation of the entire people of Israel adds to the glory of his Father. He is prepared to die for Christ because he know s that no one can die for the one w ho is Life itself. And, again, he says this: 'We are glad to be weak—provided you are strong' (2 Cor
1 i:9).
" Fhere should be no amazement at the fact that Paul is ready to be anathema to Christ for the sake of the glory of Christ, the conversion of his brethren, and the privilege of his people. The prophet Micah was w illing to be a liar and to be excluded from the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit provided that the Jew ish people could escape those sufferings and the disasters of exile foretold by his ow n prophecies.
'I w ould wish to be a man without the Spirit and would rather speak a lie' (Mi 2:11). And there is of course the love of the law giver himself w ho was not unw illing to die alongside his brothers: 'Lord, this people has committed a great sin.
I beg you to pardon them their wrongdoing or else strike me out of the book wTich you have w ritten' (Ex 32:3 1-32).
"I'he words 'hallow ed be your name' could well be understood in
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the sense that God is hallow ed by our perfection. In other w ords, w hen we say 'hallowed be your name' to flim what we are really saving is 'Father, make us such as to deserve knowledge and understanding of how holy you are, or at least let your holiness shine forth in the spiritual lives w e lead.' And this surely happens as men 'see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven' (Mt 5:16).
"The second request of the very pure soul is to see the coming of the Father's kingdom.
"\\ hat this means first of all is that each day Christ should reign among holy men. And this happens w hen the devil's power has been driven out of our hearts through the expulsion of sinful foulness and when God has begun to reign w ithin us amid the good odors of virtue.
With fornication vanquished, chastity rules; with anger overcome, peace is king; with pride under foot, humility is sovereign.
"I'here is also the promise, definite in regard to its time of fulfillment, made to all the saints, to all the sons of God, the promise that Christ will say to them 'Come, you blessed ones of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the time of the w orld's creation' (Mt 25:34). (iazing eagerly toward that set time, the soul is filled w ith longing and expectation and it says to I lim: 'May your kingdom come' (Mt 6:10). W ith its ow n conscience for a witness, the soul knows that it w ill enter as a partner at the time of the coming of the kingdom. No sinner w ill dare to say this or to hope for it, for he will have no wish to see the throne of judgment and he will be fully aw are that there w ill be no palm, no rew ard for his merits, but rather that he w ill suffer punishment forthwith.
" Fhe third petition of sons is this: 'May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' No greater prayer can be offered than that the things of earth should be put on a level w ith the things of heaven. 'May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' W hat else is this if not a declaration that men should be like angels, that just as the w ill of God is fulfilled by the angels in heaven so all men on earth should do, not their w ill, but His.
"4 he only man capable of offering up this prayer sincerely w ill be the one who believes that God arranges everything—the seemingly good and the seemingly bad—for our benefit, that the salvation and the
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\\ cll-hcing of
1 is o\\ n people is more of a care and a concern to I lini than to ourselves.
" riiis prayer can also be interpreted certainly in the following wav. (w)d wishes for the salvation of all. d his is the opinion of the blessed Paul.
'1 le w ishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowiedge of the truth' (1 Pm 2:4).
I he prophet Isaiah, speaking as the voice of (iod the Father, savs: '.\ly wish shall be entirely fulfilled' (Is 46:10).
"So then as w e give voice to 'may vour w ill be done on earth as it is in heaven' we arc saying in other words that 'like those in heaven.
Father, may those on earth be saved by the know ledge of your name.'
" 'Give us this day our supersubstantial bread' (Mt 6:
1 1). Another evangelist uses the term 'daily' (Lk 1 1:3).
" Fhe first expression indicates that this bread has a character that is noble and substantial by virtue of w hich its exalted splendor and holiness surpass all substances and all creatures.
"W ith 'daily' the evangelist show s that w ithout this bread we cannot live a spiritual life for even a day. When he says 'this day' he show s that the bread must be eaten each day, that it will not be enough to have eaten yesterday unless we eat similarly today. May our daily poverty encourage us to pour forth this prayer at all times, for there is no day on w hich it is unnecessary for us to eat this bread so as to strengthen the heart of the person w ithin us.
" 'Daily' can also be understood as referring to this present life of ours.
I hat is, 'give us this bread while we linger in this present v\ orld.
We know that in the time to come you w ill give it to w hoever deserves it but we ask that you give it to us today, for he who has not received it in this life w ill not be able to partake of it in that next life.'
" 'And forgive us our debts as we forgive those in debt to us.' Oh, the unspeakable mercy of (iod! Not only has
1 le handed to us a model of prayer, not only has 1 le given us a discipline which w ill make us acceptable to I lim, not only because of this necessary formula (by which I le teaches us always to pray) has I le pulled up the roots both of anger and of gloom, but I le has also made a w ay and a route by w hich those praying to I lim may call on I lim to exercise a kindly and indulgent judgment over them.
I le bestows a means to soften the verdict on us.
I le gives us the means to urge I lim to pardon us on account of the
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example of forgiveness w e ourselves offer w hen we sav 'forgive us as we ourselves have forgiven.' Someone, therefore, having forgiven his own debtors, not those of the Lord, will trust in this praver and w ill ask pardon for the sins he has committed.
"But there is something which is not so good. Some of us showgentleness and indulgence to w rongs, no matter how great, w hich have been done to God.
If, however, the w rongs no matter how small are done to us, we w reak punishment cruelly and inexorablv. Hence anvone w ho has not forgiven from the bottom of his heart the w rong done by a brother w ill be condemned, not pardoned, as he says this praver, since he w ill be asking for a more severe judgment. 'Forgive me as I have forgiven.' If he is dealt w ith as he requested, w hat is in store for him if not that God, following the example he set, is implacablv angry and punishes him w ithout mercy?
If, then, w e w ish to be judged mercifully we must show ourselves to be merciful to those who have done us w rong. We shall be forgiven proportionately w ith the forgiveness we display to those who, whatever their malice, have injured us.
".Many growfearful at this and w hen this prayer is uttered by all the people in church they silently skip this part in case it should seem that by their w ords they are condemning themselves instead of making excuses for themselves.
I hey do not realize that it is w ith empty subtlety that they are striving, uselessly, to camouflage themselves before the great judge w ho had w ished to give advance notice of how 1 le would exercise judgment to those praying to Him.
Precisely because He did not w ish us to find Him cruel and inexorable. He made clear the yardstick by which he made judgment.
I hat was that we would judge the brothers w ho w ronged us as we w ould wish ourselves to be judged by Him, since 'a judgment without mercy awaits the man who has not shown mercy' (]as 2:1 3).
"There follows 'lead us not into temptation,' out of w hich comes a problem that is not a minor one.
If we pray that w e be not permitted to be tempted, w here w ill that constancy come from for w hich we are to be tested? Ehere is the scriptural statement that every man w ho has not been tested has not been approved of.
Ehere is 'Blessed is the man who endures temptation' (Jas 1:1 2). So this cannot be the sense of 'lead us not into temptation.'
It is not 'do not allow us ever to be tempted' but rather 'do not allow us to be overcome w hen we are tempted.'
"Job w as tempted. But he was not actually led into temptation.
I le
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did not ascribe folly to (lod. He did not take the road of impiety or blasphemy along v\ hich the tempter wished to drag him.
"Abraham was tempted. Joseph was tempted. But neither was led into temptation, for neither of them yielded to the tempter.
".\nd then there follows 'but deliver us from evil,' that is, 'do not allow us to be tempted beyond endurance by the devil and ensure that "w ith every temptation there is a w ay out, so that we can put up with it" '(1 Cor 10:13).
"You see then the brief mode and formula of prayer given us by the judge to whom our pleas must be offered.
Fhere is no request for riches, no reminder of honors, no plea for power or bravery, no reference to bodily well-being or to this present life, d he Creator of eternity does not wish that something perishable, something cheap, something time-bound, is sought from Him.
It would be a terrible wrong to His generosity and lavishness to ignore requests for what eternally endures in favor of petitions for what is transitory and perishable. This kind of spiritual pov erty in our prayers w ould incur the wrath instead of the fav or of our judge.
"It would seem, then, that this prayer, the Our Father, contains the fullness of perfection.
It was the Lord Himself who gave it to us as both an example and a rule.
It raises up those making use of it to that preeminent situation of w hich I spoke earlier.
It lifts them up to that prayer of fire known to so few'.
It lifts them up, rather, to that ineffable prayer which rises above all human consciousness, with no voice sounding, no tongue mov ing, no words uttered. The soul lights up w ith heavenly illumination and no longer employs constricted, human speech. All sensibility is gathered together and, as though from some very abundant source, the soul breaks forth richly, bursts out unspeakably to Cjod, and in the tiniest instant it pours out so much more than the soul can either describe or remember w hen it returns again to itself.
"Our lord, with this formula of pleading, passed through this same condition or situation. He withdrew to the solitude of the mountain, and in the silent prayer of His agony He gave with His bloody sweat an inimitable example of ardor.
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"Who could have the experience to describe the different varieties, the causes and the sources of the compunction bv means of which the soul is inflamed and is lifted like a fire to the purest and the most fervent prayer? But by way of example and to the best of mv ability
I will say something about this and cast my mind back, with the Lord's help to guide me.
"Once while I was singing the psalms a verse of it put me in the way of the prayer of fire. Or sometimes the musical expression of a brother's voice has moved sluggish minds to the most intense prayer.
I have known it to happen that the superiority and the seriousness of someone giving voice to the psalms has stirred a great onset of zeal in those who were merely bystanders. Sometimes the encouragement and the spiritual discourse of a perfect man have stirred to the richest prayers the sensibilities of those u ho w ere depressed. And I know' that in my ow n case the death of a brother or of a friend has moved me to the fullest compunction. The memory too of my lack of warmth and of my carelessness has produced a saving ardor of soul within me.
"In this wav, then, there are certainly countless opportunities w hen, with God's grace, the torpor and the sluggishness of our souls are shaken up.
"A no less difficult problem is that of trying to discover how' and in w hat manner these movements of compunction are produced w ithin the hidden recesses of the spirit. Often the fruit of saving compunction emerges as an unspeakable joy and a liveliness of soul. Joy in its immensitv becomes unbearable and the soul bursts out in great cries, bringing to a neighboring cell the w ord of our heart's gladness and of the mightiness of our exultation.
"Sometimes the soul lies low, hidden in the depths of silence.
I he stunning onset of sudden light takes all sound of voice away.
All its senses are w ithdrawn into its ow n depths or else are let go and w ith unspeakable groanings it pours out its longings to God.
"And sometimes it fills up w ith such sorrow and grief that it can only shake it off by melting into tears."
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2S (icrmaniis: "Low Iv as I am, I have some experience of this sentiment of compunction. Often at the thought of my ow n sins my tears have flow ed and at the coming of the I>ord this unspeakable joy has, as vou said, so revived me that its verv immensity has made me not despair of gaining pardon.
"It seems to me that nothing would be more glorious than this condition, cspeciallv if it lav w ithin our pow er to renew it. Sometimes it has happened to me that w ishing once more for these tears of compunction to flow
I have spent all my efforts on this.
I recall to mind all mv mistakes and all mv sins, and still I cannot recover that rich abundance of tears. Mv eves stay dry, like the hardest stone, and not even the tiniest drop is shed. And just as 1 rejoice in that outflowing of tears, so I grieve w hen I cannot recover it at will."
Isaac: "Not every outflow ing of tears springs from the one feeling or the one virtue.
"It is one thing for the tears to run dow n when our heart, stirred bv the thorn of our sins, overflows. About this it is said:
'I am w orn out w ith mv groans, each night I shall bathe my resting place with tears,
I shall dampen my bed with my weeping' (Ps 6:7). Or again: 'Let your tears flov\' day and night like a stream. Give yourself no rest and let not your eye grow cjuiet' (Lam 2:18).
"It is another thing w hen the shedding of tears springs from the contemplation of the goods of eternity and from the longing for its coming glorv. d he tears flov\ more abundantly because our happiness is too great and our joy unlimited as our soul thirsts for the strong and the living God. 'When shall I go and appear before the face of my God?
Day and night my tears were my sustenance' (Ps 41:3-4). Each day it how Is its lament: '\Voe to me because mv living here is too long' and 'mv soul has lived on too much.'
"It is another thing when the tears flow not because conscience reproaches us for some deadly fault l)ut l)ecause of our fear of hell and of its terrible judgment.
Lhe prophet, stricken with this fear, prays to (h)d: 'Do not enter a judgment against your servant, for no living man will be found worthy before vour face' (Ps 142:2).
I here is another kind of tears and this is stirred not by an awareness of one's own sins but by the hard-heartedness and the sins of oth-
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ers.
It was for this that Samuel wept over Saul, and in the gospel we see our Lord weeping for Jerusalem. Or in the past Jeremiah is said to have wept saying: 'Who will turn my head into a fountain and mv eves into a spring of tears? And I w ill weep day and night for the dead out of the daughter of my people' (^Jer 9: 1 ). These are the kind of tears about which he sings in the one hundred and first psalm:
'I ate ashes as though it were bread and I mixed my cup with my tears' (Ps 101:10). Quite certainly these tears do not come from the same emotion as that causing the penitent in the sixth psalm to weep. This latter emotion arises on account of the worries, the constraints, and the anxieties of life with which the just of this \\ orld are afflicted. This is show n clearly not only bv the text of the psalm itself but also bv the title, 'A prayer of a poor and worried man as he pours out his prayer before God.' The character presented is that of the poor man of the gospel about w horn it is said:
'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven' (Mt 5:3).
"Such v\ eeping is far and aw ay different from those tears squeezed out of dry eyes by a hardened heart, although we must not believe that such tears are fruitless.
It is a good intention w hich seeks to shed them and is characteristic of those who have not yet acquired an assured knowledge of perfection and w ho have not been able to purify themselves completely of their past and present faults.
"But for those who have acquired a love of virtue this sort of torture is not needed. They should not set such a value on the tears of the man we see. And such squeezed-out tears can in no w ay match spontaneous outpourings.
Indeed, the struggles for them will distract the soul from praver and will lower it and plunge it into things human.
They w ill pull it away from the sublime heights w here it ought to be prayerfully anchored. They w ill compel it to relax the zeal of its prayer merely for the sake of w earing itself out on little, sterile, forced w eepings.
"And in order that you may have an understanding of true prayer, I w ill give you not my ow n opinion but that of the blessed Antony.
"Sometimes I saw' him so long at prayer and w ith a mind so ecstatic that the sunrise would catch up w ith him and I could hear him cry out from the ardor in the soul, 'W hy, O sun, w hy are you getting in my
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\\ av? You are rising now' to snatch me aw av from the brilliance of real light.'
"1 Ic too voiced this opinion—heavenly and more than human:
'Praver is not perfect w hen the m()nk is conscious of himself and of the fact that he is actuali v praving.'
"Perhaps I, w ith mv frailtv, might dare to add something to this admirable opinion, and I w ould point out the signs which show , in my experience, that a prayer is listened to by the Lord.
J2 "If, as we prav, no hesitation cuts across us and no uneasiness undermines our confidence in w hat w e ask for, if we feel in the flush of praver that we have been granted what we sought, then
I have no doubt that our prayers have effectively reached through to God. Our conviction that (iod is looking at us and that He has the power to grant what w e ask of 1 lim earns us the right to be heard and to be given what we seek.
For what the Lord Himself said to us cannot be withdrawn:
'W hatever vou ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it w ill come to vou' (Mk 1 1:24)."
JJ Ciermanus: "Mv belief is that this confidence of being heard comes from puritv of conscience. But what about those of us whose hearts are sadly aw are of the thorn of sin? How' can w e have this confidence?
If w'c have no merits to give us assurance, how can w e presume that our prayers have to be heard?"
Isaac: "4 he words of the gospels and of the prophets bear w itness to the fact that the reasons for being heard are as different as souls and their dispositions.
"You have as the outcome of the harmony between two people what the Lord I limself laid dow n: 'If two of vou on earth agree to ask anything it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven' (Mt 18:19).
Ou have it in that fullness of faith which is compared to a mustard seed: 'If vour faith were the size of a mustard seed vou w ould say to this mountain move from here, and it will move and nothing w ill be impossible to you' (Mt 17:19).
"^'ou have it in the persistence at prayer, that unwearving per-
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sistence which the Lord called importunity; 'Amen, I tell voii, he will get up and give him w hat he \\ ants if not for the sake of friendship then because of his importunity' (Lk 1 1:8).
"You have it in the good fruit of almsgiving: 'Give vour alms into the heart of a poor man and vour alms w ill prav for vou on the dav of tribulation.'
"Vou have it in a changed stvle of living and in the works of mercv:
'Break the chains of impiety, each the crushing loads' (Is 58:6). And the prophets add this after criticizing the sterilitv of a profitless fast: 'Then you w ill call out and the Lord will hear you; vou w ill crv out and 1 le will say here I am' (Is 58:9).
"Sometimes it is too great a burden of sorrows which causes us to be heard:
'I cried in distress to the Lord and he heard me' (Ps 1 19:1).
'Do not afflict the stranger because if he cries out to me I shall hear him, for I am merciful' (Ex 22:21, 27).
"So you see then the many ways in which the grace of being heard is won. No one, therefore, should allow the miserv of his conscience to break him in discouragement when there is a question of salvation or of the things of heaven.
I know well our w retchedness and I know we completely lack the virtues w hich I mentioned above.
V\'e lack that admirable harmony of two souls, the faith w hich has been compared to a mustard seed, and those deeds of piety described by the prophet. But can w e not at least have that importunity w hich is available to anyone w ho w ants it and by which the D)rd has promised to give us what we ask?
"W e must therefore not be hesitant and lacking in faith. W'e must persist in our prayers, and our persistence will quite certainly win us, as God has told us, everything we ask for. No doubt about this at all!
"The Ivord, in His wish to grant the things that are everlasting and of heaven, urges us to coerce I lim w ith our importunity. Not only does
I le not despise and reject the importunate, I le calls them to I lim and He praises them and with utter kindness I le promises to grant them whatever thev have consistently hoped for. He says: 'Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.
Evervone w ho asks receives, and the seeker finds and for the one w ho knocks there is opening' (Lk 1 1:9-10). Again this: 'Everything you believinglv prav for you will receive and nothing will be impossible for vou'(.\lt 21:22, 17^19).
"So then if all the reasons I mentioned for us to be heard are com-
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pletclv lacking in us, at least let our insistent importunity animate us.
This is something which is independent of all merit and hard work, and it can be grasped by anyone who wishes for it.
"But one thing is certain. Anyone who prays and who doubts that he \\ ill be heard \\ ill not be listened to at all.
" Fhat unfaltering prayer must be offered up to the Lord is shown us by the example of the blessed Dav id.
I le was heard on the yery first day of his praying, but the outcome to his petition only came after twenty-one days.
I lence we must never let up in the zeal of our prayers, even w hen the Lord seems to us to be slow to answer.
It may well be that the Lord w ishes this delay for our own good.
It may be that the angel bringing our div ine gift has indeed left the presence of God but has been delayed by the dev il, and he w ill certainly not be able to hand y
y ov er to us the favor we asked if he finds us to hav e cooled off in our praying. This is w hat would certainly hav e happened in the case of the prophet mentioned above had it not been for the fact that w ith incomparable virtue he hung on in his prayers until the twenty-first day. fherefore this full, confident belief within us must not be broken by any w eakening of hope, especially when we feel that we have not yet received what we prayed for. And we should have no doubt of w hat the Lord promised us when Fie said: 'Everything you believingly pray for you w ill receive' (Mt 2 1:22). We should constantly meditate on the saying of the blessed evangelist John, that saying by w hich all doubt regarding this matter is dissolved, 'We have the assurance of being heard by God if we ask for something that accords w ith His w ill' (1 Jn
5:14). Note that John invites this full, assured confidence in respect of whatever accords with the will of Ciod and not for w hatever suits us or is a worldly satisfaction to us. This is what we are taught to say in the Lord's prayer with the words 'Thy will be done,' your will, not ours.
"VVe should remember too what the apostle said: 'We do know w hat we should pray for.' 1 hat is, we will understand that sometimes w e ask for things which are contrary to our salv ation and hence for the sake of w hat is better for us He w ho sees better and more clearly what w e need refuses our requests. (Certainly this w as the case with the apostle of the gentiles. He begged that the devil's angel, which by God's will had been allowed near him to beat him, should be taken away.
' Fhree times I asked the Lord that he w ould go aw ay from me. And he said to me: "My grace is enough for you. My power is at its best in weakness' " (2 Cor 12:8-9).
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"This too w as the idea exemplified hv our Savior in I lis humanity so as to provide us here as with everything else a model to imitate. So this is how He prayed; 'Father, let this cup pass from me, if it is possible. Yet let it not be as I wish but as you w ish' (Mt 26:39). And vet
His will was certainly not different from that of His Father. 'For He had come to save w hat w as lost and to give
I lis life for the redemption of the multitude' (Mt 18:1 1, 20:28). About this He Himself said: 'No one takes my life from me, but I lay it dow n of mv ow n accord.
I have the power to lav it dow n and I have the power to take it up again' ()n 10:18).
"Regarding the identity of w ill betw een the Father and Himself, the blessed David has him sav in Psalm 39,
'1 came to do vour w ill, for this is w hat I w ish, O my God' (Ps 39:9). True, w e read the following about the Father; 'Ciod so loved the world that I le gave I lis only begotten son' (^|n 3:16). And w e find regarding the Son that '1 le gave
I limself up for our sins' (Gal 1:4). About the Father it is said: 'He did not spare 1 lis ow n son but handed 1 lim over for the sake of all of us' (Rom
8:32). Of the Son it is said:
'I le gave Himself up because 1 le w ished it'
(Is 53:7). 1 his union of w ill betw een Father and Son is pointed to evervw here right up to the resurrection, where w e see each of them acting in the one single event. The blessed apostle says that the resurrection of the body w as the work of the Father 'God the f ather who raised
1 lim from the dead' (Gal 1:1). The Son proclaims that 1 le w ill raise up the temple of His body: 'Destroy this temple and 1 w ill raise it up in three days' (Jn 2:19).
"I lence, follow ing the example of the Lord, w e should end all our prayers like His, adding to all our petitions the words 'However, not as 1 w ish, but as you wish.' This is the meaning of the triple bow' made at gatherings of the brethren when the rite has been completed. (Obviously, the one who is utterly absorbed in his prayer will not observe this.)
"W'e need to be especially careful to follow the gospel precept w hich instructs us to go into our room and to shut the door so that we may pray to our Father. And this is how we can do it.
"We pray in our room whenever we w ithdraw our hearts completely from the tumult and the noise of our thoughts and our worries and when secretly and intimately we offer our prayers to the Lord.
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"W'e prav \\ ith the door shut when \\ ithout opening our mouths and in perfect silence w e offer our petitions to the One w ho pays no attention to words but w ho looks hard at our hearts.
"W'e prav in secret when in our hearts alone and in our recollected spirits w e address God and reveal our wishes only to Him and in such a w av that the hostile powers themselves have no inkling of their nature.
I lence w e must pray in utter silence, not simply in order that our w hispers and our cries do not prove both a distraction to our brothers standing nearbv and a nuisance to them when they themselves are praying l)ut also so as to ensure that the thrust of our pleading be hidden from our enemies w ho are especially lying in wait to attack us during our prayers.
In this way we shall fulfill the command 'Keep your mouth shut from the one w ho sleeps on vour breast' (Mi 7:5).
J6 "The reason why our prayers ought to be frequent and brief is in case the enemv, who is out to trap us, should slip a distraction to us if ever we are long-drawn-out. There lies true sacrifice. 'The sacrifice w hich (iod w ants is a contrite heart' (Ps 50:19). T his indeed is the saving oblation, the pure offering, the sacrifice of justification, the sacrifice of praise. I'hese are the real and rich thank offerings, the fat holocausts offered up bv contrite and humble hearts.
If w e offer them to God in the w'av and w ith zeal which I have mentioned we can be sure to be heard and w e can sing: 'Let my prayer rise up like incense before your face and my hands like the evening offering' (Ps 140:2).
But time and the coming night suggest to us now that w-e fulfill this obligation. My talk has been a long one and relative to w hat
I am it seems that I have said many things yet it is also very little, given so sublime and so difficult a theme."
W'e were amazed rather than filled to satisfaction by these words of the blessed Isaac. W'e held evening prayers and then we went off to rest. 4 he first light of day w as coming as we went to our cells.
Still, w e were promised a second visit, with a more extensive discussion. fhe know ledge of what had been promised to us added to the joy we had already felt. What we had been shown was the excellence of prayer. But by what method and through w hat virtue prayer could remain alwavs with us—that, we felt, was a secret which this first conference had not completely presented to us.