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Handout #84 |
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Ambrose of Milan (333-397 A.D.) |
| Advice on prayer
Now hear how we should pray... The apostle says: 'I would that men should pray in every place, raising up pure hands, without wrath and without disputes And the Lord says in the gospel: 'When you pray, enter your room, close the door and pray to your Father. Does there not seem to you to be a contradiction here? The apostle says, 'Pray in everyplace, whereas the Lord says, Pray in your room.' But there is no contradiction. You can pray in your room everywhere and always. You have room everywhere. Even if you are among the pagans, among the Jews, you always have a secret room. Your room is your spirit. Even if you are in the midst a crowd, you have within you your closed and secret room. When you pray, enter your room He is right to say, 'Enter, lest you pray like the Jews who were told: 'This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me. 'Let your prayer then rise not just from your lips. Devote all your attention to it, enter the depths of your heart, go right into it...What is this closed door? Learn that you have a door to close when you pray. It has pleased God that women understand this... When you pray, do not raise your voice in a cry, do not keep oil in your prayers and do not strike attitudes in the crowd. Pray secretly in yourself certain that he who sees and hears everything can hear you in secret. And pray to your Father secretly. For he who sees what is hidden knows your prayer...Why should we pray in secret rather than raising our voices? Look around. If you want something from someone who has good hearing, you do not think it necessary to shout: you simply ask in a quiet tone of voice. It is when you are trying to attract the attention of a deaf person that you begin to raise your voice so that he can hear you. So those who shout think that God can only hear them if they shout and in calling on him, they reduce his power. By contrast, those who pray in silence prove their faith and recognize that God examines the reins and hearts, and that he hears your prayer before it leaves your mouth. Ambrose, De sacramentis, 6,11-16. |
