Prayer Comes from a
Humble Heart
Let our speech and our petition be kept
under discipline when we pray, and let us preserve quietness and modesty –
for, remember, we are standing in God’s sight. We must please God’s eyes both
with the movements of our body and with the way we use our voices. For just as
a shameless man will be noisy with his cries, so it is fitting for the modest
to pray in a moderate way.
Furthermore, the
Lord has taught us to pray in secret, in hidden and remote places, in our own
bed-chambers – and this is most suitable for faith, since it shows us that
God is everywhere and hears and sees everything, and in the fullness of his
majesty is present even in hidden and secret places, as it is written I am
a God close at hand and not a God far off. If a man hides himself in secret
places, will I not see him? Do I not fill the whole of heaven and earth?, and,
again, The eyes of God are everywhere, they see good and evil alike.
When
we meet together with the brethren in one place, and celebrate divine
sacrifices with God’s priest, we should remember our modesty and discipline,
not to broadcast our prayers at the tops of our voices, nor to throw before
God, with undisciplined long-windedness, a petition that would be better made
with more modesty: for after all God does not listen to the voice but to the
heart, and he who sees our thoughts should not be pestered by our voices, as
the Lord proves when he says: Why do you think evil in your hearts? –
or again, All the churches shall know that it is I who test your motives
and your thoughts.
In the first book
of the Kings, Hannah, who is a type of the Church, observes that she prays to
God not with loud petitions but silently and modestly within the very recesses
of her heart. She spoke with hidden prayer but with manifest faith. She spoke
not with her voice but with her heart, because she knew that that is how God
hears, and she received what she sought because she asked for it with belief.
The divine Scripture asserts this when it says: She spoke in her heart,
and her lips moved, and her voice was not audible; and God listened to her. And
we read in the Psalms: Speak in your hearts and in your beds, and be pierced.
Again, the Holy Spirit teaches the same things through Jeremiah,
saying: But it is in the heart that you should be worshipped, O Lord.
Beloved
brethren, let the worshipper not forget how the publican prayed with the
Pharisee in the temple – not with his eyes boldly raised up to heaven, nor
with hands held up in pride; but beating his breast and confessing the sins
within, he implored the help of the divine mercy. While the Pharisee was
pleased with himself, it was the publican who deserved to be sanctified, since
he placed his hope of salvation not in his confidence of innocence – since
no-one is innocent – but he prayed, humbly confessing his sins, and he who
pardons the humble heard his prayer.
Source: The
Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your interest in our blog! Your comment will be viewed shortly to be added to our blog. :)