The Desire of the Heart
he desire of
your heart is itself your prayer. And if the desire is constant, so is
your prayer. Not for nothing did the apostle tell us to pray without ceasing.
But did he mean that we were to be perpetually on our knees, lying prostrate,
or raising our hands? Is this what is meant by praying without ceasing?
Even if we admit that we pray in this fashion, I do not believe that we
can do so all the time.
Yet there is another, interior kind of prayer without ceasing, namely
the desire of the heart. Whatever else you may be doing, if you but fix
your desire on God's sabbath rest, your prayer will be ceaseless. Therefore,
if you wish to pray without ceasing, do not cease to desire. The constancy
of your desire will itself be the ceaseless voice of your prayer. And that
voice of your prayer will be silent only when your love ceases. For who
are silent if not those of whom it is said: Because evil has abounded,
the love of many will grow cold?
The chilling of love means that the heart is silent. If your love is
without ceasing, you are always crying out; if you are always crying out,
you are always desiring; and if you desire, you are calling to mind your
eternal rest in the Lord.
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from
Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
HTML text prepared by David P. Steelman.
The "Daily Reflection" page on the Villanova University web site is sponsored by
the Office for Mission Effectiveness. For more information about the office, contact Dr.
Christopher M. Janosik,
christopher.janosik@villanova.edu
This page was updated on
Friday May 30, 2003.
