Chapter 88

Recite Your Prayers Slowly

Never recite prayers hastily, but slowly, with the thoughts and feelings expressed in the prayers being read. Before beginning prayer, always prepare yourself a little, gathering your thoughts and striving with your attention to stand before the Lord, to whom you are coming to pray. The main disposition toward prayer should be penitential, for we all sin greatly. A broken spirit, a broken and humble heart God will not despise (Cf.: Ps. 50:19). In every rule pray about your sins—those in which you have transgressed.

(Letter 377. Vol. 3, p. 11)