Monastery of the Holy Cross

  • Home
  • About
    • Benedictine Life
    • History
  • Visit Us
    • Guesthouse
    • Prayer Schedule
      • Christmas 2024
    • The Catholic Readers Society
    • Caskets
  • Vocations
    • Monastic Experience Weekend
    • Formation
    • Oblates
      • Oblate Podcast
  • Solemn Vespers
    • Chant
  • Contact
  • Donate

Notes on Prayer, Part 1

April 17, 2016

I had the blessing to spend this past Thursday evening with the Young Adult Ministry of Lake County, which met at St. Mary’s parish in Lake Forest. I had been invited to speak about prayer, and at the end of the event, I offered to post some of my notes here for those who would like to follow up on further reading. I should mention that I found the questions from the participants most helpful and illuminating, and that the entire evening was edifying and encouraging.

Before I list the books that I mentioned there, I should give a short explanation about what I said to the group.

Prayer is natural. Human beings were created by God to know Him and have a relationship with Him. This is the most important fact to know about prayer. We don’t have to scramble to find God or to try to get His attention. If we are moved to pray, the Holy Spirit has already been active in us, and we are doing what our natures are made for.

Therefore, if we wish to pray well, we should set about discovering what it is about our lives that inhibits this natural activity. Walking is also a natural activity of human beings, but it is something that we learn to do (mainly by watching other people and then by trial and error). It is also the case that injuries and disabilities can hamper our capacity for walking. When this happens, we do rehab.

We live in a world where prayer is not highly valued. This means that many of our base-line behaviors are hostile to this capax orationis. This is not something new, however, and this is why my favorite recommendation for learning to pray is Evagrius Ponticus, who died in 399 A.D. He is a master of identifying the ways in which we inhibit our own ability to pray, and a great pedagogue for learning how to be healed of this malady.

The final note for today: prayer is an activity primarily of the mind. Therefore much of what is helpful for prayer involves a kind of hygiene for the mind, a scouring out of harmful patterns of thought, and the introduction of good habits of thinking. That said, our minds are connected to bodies, and so what we do with our bodies has consequences for prayer. The shorthand idea here is this: we will pray well when we uproot the vices from our bodies and minds and plant the virtues. I will have more to say on this at a later time.

Here are my recommendations:

by Evagrius:

The Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer, translated and with an (excellent) introduction by John Eudes Bamberger

The Ad Monachos, translated by Abbot Jeremy Driscoll–also with fantastic notes

Talking Back (The Antirrhetikos), translated by David Brakke

Evagrius Ponticus by A.M. Casiday (contains several treatises)

by St. John Cassian: The Conferences (especially Conferences nine and ten, which can be found online here.)

by Sister Mary Margaret Funk: Thoughts Matter

Father Thomas Keating: Invitation to Love

 

God’s blessings to you!

« Previous article
Next article »

Categories: Contemplative Prayer

Blog Topics

  • Beauty (11)
  • Contemplative Prayer (47)
  • Contra Impios (2)
  • Culture (18)
  • Discernment (21)
  • Formation (8)
  • General (40)
  • Going to the Father (18)
  • Gregorian Chant (5)
  • Holy Spirit (3)
  • Jottings (25)
  • Liturgy (78)
  • Meditations on Heaven (4)
  • Monastic Life (42)
  • Moral Theology (43)
  • Music (17)
  • Scripture (52)
  • Vatican II and the New Evangelization (20)

Blog Archives

  • May 2025 (1)
  • April 2025 (4)
  • March 2025 (4)
  • February 2025 (3)
  • January 2025 (5)
  • December 2024 (8)
  • November 2024 (3)
  • October 2024 (9)
  • September 2024 (8)
  • August 2024 (9)
  • July 2024 (9)
  • June 2024 (8)
  • May 2024 (9)
  • April 2024 (4)
  • November 2023 (1)
  • April 2023 (1)
  • December 2022 (1)
  • October 2022 (1)
  • March 2022 (1)
  • February 2022 (1)
  • August 2021 (2)
  • June 2021 (1)
  • May 2021 (1)
  • April 2021 (1)
  • February 2021 (2)
  • January 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (4)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • May 2020 (4)
  • April 2020 (9)
  • March 2020 (4)
  • February 2020 (1)
  • January 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • June 2019 (1)
  • May 2019 (1)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (1)
  • February 2019 (3)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • November 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (2)
  • September 2018 (2)
  • August 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (2)
  • June 2018 (4)
  • May 2018 (7)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • February 2018 (1)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (1)
  • September 2017 (1)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (2)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • March 2017 (1)
  • February 2017 (2)
  • December 2016 (1)
  • November 2016 (3)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • May 2016 (2)
  • April 2016 (5)
  • March 2016 (2)
  • December 2015 (1)
  • November 2015 (2)
  • October 2015 (3)
  • August 2015 (10)
  • July 2015 (12)
  • June 2015 (17)
  • May 2015 (2)
  • April 2015 (7)
 
© 2025 Monastery of the Holy Cross
  • Accessibility
Web Design by ePageCity