How Do We Pray?"Prayer needs no teacher. It requires diligence, effort and personal ardor, and then God will be its teacher." St. Meletius the Confessor
St Isaac the Syrian says we should:
• Pray with attention – so that we can have a true
encounter with God
• Pray with humility – because this sort of prayer goes
straight to God’s ear
• Pray with affection and tears – with joy and
thanksgiving, but also with true repentance and purity.
• Pray with patience and ardor – ‘to deny oneself’ is
courageously to persevere in prayer.
• Pray from the depths of the heart – even if we pray
using ‘the words of another’ they should be uttered as if
they are our own. St. Isaac says this is especially true
of the Psalms.
• Pray with faith and absolute trust in God – because He knows our life.
St. Isaac the Syrian
