Say the prayers

The one thing I hold to as a law is to never stop saying the prayers. When everything falls apart, and it does, often, there is always the regularity of life held in place by the prayers. Whether your book is open or not hardly matters, so long as you say the prayers. This is the secret to all spiritual endeavors, but it is the one most often ignored.

All it takes is a little frustration, a rough patch in life, and the prayers go right out the window. In my past that is how things worked; now, that is not an option. I am bound on two fronts. First, the Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani binds me by the Plan of life. Second, my life as a hermit in discernment. Taken together, prayer is the very cement of my existence. The time is not wasted, even when I sit silently for long periods without uttering a word by mouth, or thought.

As the layers of false self are removed, I am healed even in pain by the prayers, and am left with one less voice vying for my attention when it is time to still the mind. Imagine that, the pain of facing the unreality creates a space of silence. This may not strike you as incredible, but to me it is something to set off the fireworks. Even when I'm angry, or upset, or aroused in an inappropriate way, I have the grace to clear my mind and let God work to order that which is disordered within me.

If nothing else remember this: Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. It is the Jesus prayer. There is no more powerful prayer in all Christian history. Wordy prayers waste time, the Jesus prayer protects the soul, causes unclean spirits to flee, and settles deep into the heart.

May God lead us all into everlasting life.