Rachael W’s Reviews > Prayer: Oxygen for the Soul > Status Update

“How can we keep in touch with God? We must, essentially, relearn to live our daily lives. Two attitudes help us in this conversion: cultivating a spirit of wonder and seeking meaning in everything.“

“The one who prays is not the one who is cut off from the world, but the one who knows how to live the real, the present, at every moment, and find in it the mysterious and hidden – but so very real – presence of God“

“Human beings are not purified from the outside inward, but starting from within. Not so much by a moral effort we make, but by discovering a Presence within us and letting him act freely.“

It’s in prayer that silence is both the most precious and the most difficult to experience… During this time of prayer our thoughts won’t stop turning: our everyday concerns, a word or attitude that hurt us, old wounds or dreams, or sometimes even darker thoughts… should we try to muzzle these thoughts? Is it not better to simply hand them over, let them flow into God‘s heart, without dwelling on them?

“If silence is first and foremost listening, our words must first and foremost be responding. Not a reaction to the word of another, but a response to which our deepest heart invests itself.” we must encounter the other person rather than their words; to listen more with the heart than with the head.

“Silence is not the absence of speech; it is beyond speech. Good silence is first and foremost, listening: listening to God as to allow ourselves to be called, instructed, led, and loved by him.”

“Two lovers, hand-in-hand, expressed their love more through silence than through words.”

Causes of Acedia:
1. Overwork: indulgence in excessive activity, or asceticism beyond one strength, which causes a breakdown.
2. Certain climates are seen by the fathers as a cause of despondency.

Man rises to pray and finds neither the words nor the strength to continue it. When he sits down to read, the book is in his hands… as if it were made of lead, can remain open before his eyes for a whole day without him understanding a single line. The intellect is scattered, unable to concentrate and understand the meaning of words; the will that presides over all activity is dissolved. - Fr. Matta El Meskeen

Signs of acedia:
1. Desire to move all the time. This instability reveals a deeper instability of the heart.
2. A vague and general dissatisfaction. A desire to flee from one’s duties for other activities that are believed to be more fulfilling.
3. A slackening of the soul in spiritual activities.