5"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. 7In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." NAB

hypocrite: one who affects virtues or qualities he does not have
pagan: a heathen; an irreligious person

It occurred to me while reading this passage and reflecting on what prayer has meant to me that part of our Lord's underlying message here is that true prayer is meant to be an intimate thing between the believer and God. The Fathers describe four ways in which we can come into communion with God: the Holy Mysteries--first, foremost, most sublime--Scripture reading, prayer, and almsgiving (random, secret acts of kindness). With the whole idea of communion being that we enter into a deep, intimate relationship with the Holy Trinity, the focus on prayer in this passage suggests that this relationship is one in which God sees into the heart and we, too, must be able to reflect in our own hearts on what we are saying and what we intend. It is not enough to simply repeat prayers that others have written, though this is a good beginning in the training we all need to establish ourselves in prayer. Prayers learned must descend into our inmost being and become the leaven that makes our faith gift grow.

I went on a retreat where we had long periods of silence for personal prayer. For one not used to this silence, it could seem to be something designed to drive one crazy. Our culture is so permeated with noise--with TV, with radio, with ipods, with sounds of every type--and we have come to the point where most of us cannot stand silence. We seek to fill every silent moment with something--everything but the "still, small voice" that speaks to us when we empty ourselves of everything that can stand in the way of being completely open to God.

So, it seems to me, that prayer, as Jesus is speaking of it in this passage, is something like the relationship between two married people: it is sacred, it is something to be carefully done, nourished, and kept from the eyes of others.

And the inner room can be more than a remote room in one's home. The inner room is the heart of each of us. That inner space where we really discover who we are. All of us can put on masks for the world and our associates to see. Others may think us wonderful, educated, kind, generous, but God sees through the masks and knows for sure who we really are. My university composition professor used to say that a man stands naked when he writes by the words he chooses to express his concepts. I believe that we stand naked before God when we pray. Rote repetitions of the prayers in the book may be--and are--a good start for the beginner, but at some point one must make a leap of faith--one must grow and mature--toward the God we pray to and make the prayers we use our own. These prayers must, somehow, sink into the depths of who we are and become part of us.

For me, some of the phrases from the prayerbook have sunk in and percolate out with some regularity as I come to understand who and what I am. They become not only part of my understanding of self, but also part of my understanding of Who the God is Who came here to establish this communion with me and Who wants to have a now and eternal relationship with me: "I, Thy sinful, slothful, and unworthy servant . . ." (from St. John Chyrsostom's Communion prayers); "restore unto me the joy of They salvation . . ." (from Psalm 50/51); "I thank You for all the good things You have poured out so abundantly on me . . ." (from St. Basil's Post-Communion prayers)--you get the picture. Much like the business "success" books that tell us what we "put in" our heads will come out, the blessings of the Church's prayer collections provide us with the discipline and focus needed to form this intimate relationship and make the path of the saints our own.

Great Lent is a good time to make this intimate communion grow. As we fast from various foods, we can add the discipline of fasting from the noise that breaks up our prayer periods and causes us to hurry through prayers like the pagans: repeating the familiar phrases hurriedly and becoming sloppy in our relationship with God. Princess Ileana of Romania puts it so well in her essay "How to Pray": ". . . the first rule is to shut the door, the door of your room and the door of your mind which prevents the thoughts of the outside world from penetrating and interrupting the trend of your thoughts Godward."

My two cents for tonight.

In Christ,

BOB

Edited by theophan (02/24/08 09:02 PM)
Edit Reason: spelling