– Psalm 13:5
Lately my prayers have been less wordy. Many of these ideas of Jean-Nicholas Grou (Jesuit priest, 1730-1803) in his writing How to Pray are resonating with me.
“Since prayer is a supernatural act, we must earnestly ask God to produce it in us, and then we must perform it tranquilly under his guidance…As St. Augustine says, God is closer to us than we are to ourselves. Know this is the essence of prayer. The posture of our body and the words we use have no significance in themselves and are only pleasing to God as they express the feelings of the heart. For it is the heart that prays, it is to the voice of the heart that God listens, and it is the heart that he answers…and it is through the heart that he enlightens the mind…
You ask me what this voice of the heart is. It is love which is the voice of the heart. Love God and you will always be speaking to him….
God reads the secrets of the heart. God reads its most intimate feelings, even those which we are not aware of.”
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. –Proverbs 4:23
To love God with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. – Mark 12:33
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