Catholic Radio Dramas

Let your prayer come from a humble heart

Let your prayer come from a humble heart

When we pray, our words should be calm, modest and disciplined. Let us reflect that we are standing before God. We should please him both by our bodily posture and the manner of our speech. It is characteristic of the vulgar to shout and make a noise, not those who are modest. On the contrary, they should employ a quiet tone in their prayer.

Moreover, in the course of his teaching, the Lord instructed us to pray in secret. Hidden and secluded places, even our own rooms, give witness to our belief that God is present everywhere; that he sees and hears all; that in the fullness of his majesty, he penetrates hidden and secret places. This is the teaching of Jeremiah: Am I God when I am near, and not God when I am far away? Can anyone hide in a dark corner without my seeing him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? Another passage of Scripture says: The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, observing both good and wicked men.

The same modesty and discipline should characterize our liturgical prayer as well. When we gather to celebrate the divine mysteries with ‘God’s priest, we should not express our prayer in unruly words; the petition that should be made to God with moderation is not to be shouted out noisily and verbosely. For God hears our heart not our voice. He sees our thoughts; he is not to be shouted at. The Lord showed us this when he asked: Why do you think evil in your hearts? The book of Revelation testifies to this also: And all the churches shall know that I am the one who searches the heart and the desires.

Anna maintained this rule; in her observance of it she is an image of the Church. In the First Book of Kings we are told that she prayed quietly and modestly to God in the recesses of her heart. Her prayer was secret but her faith was evident. She did not pray with her voice, but with her heart, for she knew that in this way the Lord would hear her. She prayed with faith and obtained what she sought. Scripture makes this clear in the words: She was speaking in her heart; her lips were moving but her voice could not be heard; and the Lord heard her prayer. The psalmist also reminds us: Commune within your own hearts, and in the privacy of your room express your remorse. This is the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Through Jeremiah he suggests this: Say in your hearts: Lord, it is you that we have to worship.

My friends, anyone who worships should remember the way in which the tax-collector prayed in the temple alongside the Pharisee. He did not raise his eyes immodestly to heaven or lift up his hands arrogantly. Instead he struck his breast and confessing the sins hidden within his heart he implored the assistance of God’s mercy. While the Pharisee was pleased with himself, the tax-collector deserved to be cleansed much more because of the manner in which he prayed. For he did not place his hope of salvation in the certainty of his own innocence; indeed, no one is innocent. Rather he prayed humbly, confessing his sins. And the Lord who forgives the lowly heard his prayer.

Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings

Saint Cyprian (c. 210-258) was born of pagan parents in Carthage around the year 210. He was converted to Christianity in 246 and became a profound scholar of the Bible and the great religious authors, especially Tertullian. He was ordained and in 248 and made bishop of Carthage.

Cyprian convened a council at Carthage in 251, which would settle serious pending matters including (the lapsi) the terms under which the faithful who had apostatized during the persecution of Decius could be received back into the Church; dealing with the excommunication of schismatic leaders, and asserting the supremacy of the Pope.

In 252-54 Carthage was stricken with a terrible plague. Christians were blamed for the plague, and hatred for Cyprian and the Christians intensified, paving the way for the terrible persecutions to follow under Valerian. During these difficult times, Cyprian wrote numerous theological treatises on the Church, ministry, the Bible, virginity, the lapsi, and other spiritual works making him a pioneer of Latin Christian literature.

In 258, an imperial decree from Valerian was issued forbidding any assemblage of Christians and requiring all bishops, priests, and deacons to participate in the official state religion ushered in the persecution of Christians. Cyprian was arrested, and when he refused to participate, he was exiled to a small town fifty miles from Carthage. But the following year another imperial decree ordered that all bishops, priests, and deacons were to be put to death. Cyprian was arraigned before a new proconsul, and when he refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, he was beheaded on September 14, 258.