On Prayer

This morning, I was reading my daily reading from St. Theophan the Recluse, and this part on prayer was so appropriately timed, not only for my life (when is it ever not beneficial to learn more about prayer?) but also because Great Lent, the time of prayer, is around the corner and beginning on Monday.

"For diminishing the straying of thought during prayer, it is necessary to make an effort to pray with warm feeling. To do this, it is necessary to warm the soul before prayer with meditation and with bows. Learn to pray with your own prayer. For example, the essence of evening prayer is to thank God for the day and for everything that one has met in the course of it, both good and bad. For the wrong which has been done, one must repent and ask forgiveness, promising to make amends the following day; then one prays to God for protection during sleep. Say all of this to God from  your mind and from your heart. The essence of morning prayer is to thank God for sleep and revitalizing, and to ask Him to help to do things throughout the day for His glory. Again, say this to Him with all your heart and mind. While you are at it, both in the morning and the evening, make known your vital needs to the Lord, both inner needs and outer ones, speaking to Him like a child: "See, Lord, my illness and weakness! Help me and heal me!" All this and similar things you may say to God in your own words, without using your prayer book. Maybe this will be better. Try this, and if it works, you may put aside your prayer book altogether; if it does not work, however, then you should pray with your prayer book, or else you may be left entirely without prayer."