PRAYER OF THE HEART
(Thursday, July 6)
“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” (Mt 12:43-45)
Here is our Lord’s friendly warning to us, that it is not good for us to have our “house” swept and put in order, but “empty;” that is, empty of Him. So, if we have all the externals in order and are going through the right motions, – the orthodox motions, – saying the right prayers, eating the right foods, and perhaps even erecting beautiful churches with beautiful singing and all the bells and smells, but do not take care to open our hearts to Him, then we will find ourselves in a “state worse than the first.”
This morning at the First Hour, as I go through the motions of saying my prayers, let me take pause and be attentive to my heart. Because prayer is a matter of the heart. I humbly ask God to take from me any self-centered and self-isolating fears, like the fear of failure or success; of human opinion or of financial insecurity, etc., because these signalize to me that I’m running on empty. I hand these over to God, and let Him be God, in my here and now. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Ps 50/51:10)
