Prayer should be brief and pure, unless it happens to be lengthened by an impulse or inspiration of divine grace.


- Rule of Benedict


I wonder why we try to make prayer so hard? Benedict, on the other hand, really "got it."
Prayer should be the most natural thing in the world--a bi-product of our spirits filled with the Spirit of God.

"Don't ask me to pray! I just can't pray in front of a group." Really, I do understand people's anxiety at public prayer, but maybe that would be alleviated by remembering Who it is we are really talking to.

Benedict says that prayer should be brief. Then there's no danger of us getting so impressed with the sound of our own words that we forget why we're praying in the first place.

Purity. It's prayerful words coming out of a pure heart that pleases God. I'm sure he's not at all moved by the eloquence of our prose. Seems that God is easier to please than anyone else in our lives.

Just make it pure and simple. And if God wants more than that, He'll let our hearts know.