From the moment you start praying…
From the moment you start praying, raise your heart upward and turn your eyes downward. Come to focus in your innermost self and there pray in secret to your Heavenly Father.
–Saint Aphrahat the Persian (270-345)
Cling to God with open heart…
We cannot acquire pure prayer unless we cling to God with an open heart, since it is God alone who gives the gift of prayer to one who prays, and God who teaches us mystical knowledge.
–Saint Theodoros the Ascetic (Seventh Century)
The mind is fixed on God…
There are three kinds of attention that can be brought to vocal prayer: one which attends to the words, lest we say them wrong; another which attends to the sense of the words; and a third which attends to the end of the prayer, namely, God, and to the thing we are praying for. This last kind of attention is most necessary, and even uneducated people are capable of it. Moreover, this attention, whereby the mind is fixed on God, is sometimes so strong that the mind forgets everything else.
–Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Sometimes I consider…
Sometimes I consider myself there, as a stone before a carver, whereof he is to make a statue: presenting myself thus before God, I desire Him to make His perfect image in my soul, and render me entirely like Himself.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)
Pray night and day…
Pray night and day. Pray when you are happy, and pray when you are sad.
–Saint Theodoros the Ascetic (Seventh Century)
Nothing is past…
Nothing is past, present or future, or even eternal; all is present in this deliriously wonderful sea. When one returns to and in himself, he sees and feels himself to be less than the tiniest jot.
–Blessed John of Saint Samson (1571-1636)
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