desert fathers on prayer through the voice of henri nouwen...

i began reading henri's "the way of the heart" given to me by a friend for a desert getaway... i read part of it earlier this week in j tree, the remainder today here at my place... i am almost finished, but wanted to recap on some of what i have read... good stuff...

The literal translation of the words "pray always" is "come to rest". The Greek word for rest is hesychia, and hesychasm is the term which refers to the spirituality of the desert. A hesychast is a man or a woman who seeks solitude and silence as the ways to unceasing prayer.

Theophan the Recluse: "To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all-seeing, within you." All through the centuries, this view of prayer has been central in hesychasm. Prayer is standing in the presence of God with the mind in the heart; that is, at that point of our being where there are no divisions or distinctions and where we are totally one.

this is all very reminiscent of merton's thoughts on the "ground of being" and zen buddhism being a complimentary expression of this type of life... more on that in previous and later posts...

henri goes on to talk about the necessity of short prayers...

John Climacus is even more explicit: "When you pray do not try to express yourself in fancy words, for often it is the simple, repititous phrases of a little child that our Father in heaven finds most irresistible. Do not strive for verbosity lest your mind be distracted from devotion by a search for words. One phrase on the lips of the tax collector was enough to win God's mercy; on humble request made with faith was enough to save the good thief. Wordiness in prayer often subjects the mind to fantasy and dissipation; single words of their very nature tend to concentrate the mind. When you find satisfaction or compunction in a certain word of your prayer, stop at that point."

good thoughts... it reminds me of anne lamott's simple prayers of "thank you, thank you, thank you" and "help, help, help"... wow, this goes against what i was taught to pray with such specifics to see god answer your prayers... hmm...