Chapter 157

When Distracted

First you describe how you pray noetically and with what feelings, and ask whether this is possible—I answer: it is possible. Bless us, O Lord, always to pray so, if you remember what you wrote (“Being in church, in my cell, or wherever I happen to be, I strive to gather my feelings and to imagine the Lord before me without form; then my lips close, my tongue remains still, and only with mind and heart do I speak the prayer; then all my bodily members come into order, a feeling of reverence toward the Lord takes hold of me, and I clearly see my own nothingness”). Then you add: “I grieve that I pray such a prayer rarely. Prayer departs, and again I become distracted.”

You must grieve greatly about this. But you should not blame anyone else: the fault is your own. To establish yourself in such prayer, first of all pray to the Lord, the Giver of all good, that He grant you to pray so, and secondly, approach such prayer more often. The habit will come, by God’s grace.

“I become distracted.” Who is at fault? Do not be distracted. And as soon as you notice that your thoughts have wandered, at once turn them back again. Accustom yourself to dwell in the remembrance of God and the remembrance of death. Contrition will come and will not allow your thoughts to scatter. Following this you ask: “Should I continue such prayer or descend with the mind into the heart?” But what you just said—where does it happen? It cannot happen anywhere but within. You stand before the Lord without images, in His presence, and you experience good feelings. What more is needed? Here is everything. Are you perhaps producing this in your head?! No, you must stand in the heart. But you need not remember the heart itself, only behold the Lord. Everything can be expressed thus: “To stand in the heart with the mind before the Lord and to pray.”

(Letter 902. Vol. 5, pp. 174–175)