Chapter 67

Meditation on God—the Key to Unceasing Prayer

If someone asked: “How can I always be with the Lord?”—One can boldly answer: “Have feeling toward the Lord—and you will be with the Lord…” But how can one have feeling? It seems to me that mere remembrance of the Lord already sets feeling toward Him in motion. If to this you add reflection on what He is and what He has done and does for us, I do not know whose heart would remain untouched. Therefore the holy fathers very rightly regard meditation on God, or contemplation of the Lord’s attributes and actions, as the key to prayer… and to unceasing prayer. Because from this feeling toward God is awakened and unites with the Lord. (11, 179)