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Dear father Angelo,

Is it possible to pray incessantly in everyday life?

For example, while performing common activities such as working, listening to others, driving safely, etc…

What value do these works have when they are done for the glory of our Lord?

I thank you for your work and I greet you cordially,

Matteo

The Priest’s answer 

Dear Matteo,

1- Our Lord preached about the necessity to pray without ceasing.

Here is what can be read in the Gospel of Luke: “Then he [Jesus] told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary” (Luke 18: 1).

Even Saint Paul urges to pray continuously: “Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).

Well, of course it is not possible to devote ourselves to prayer continuously without ever taking a break. Therefore, the need for continuous prayer has been interpreted in various ways.

2- The first one consists of having a particular life attitude according to which one keeps one’s inner gaze turned to Jesus while fulfilling one’s own duties. The Lord said: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come” (Luke 12: 35-40).

Master Eckhart comments on this: “For each man should be as our Lord said: “Like people on the watch, always expecting their Lord” (Luke 12: 36). For indeed, people who are expectant like that are watchful; they look around them to see where He whom they expect is coming from, and they try to see Him in all the things they encounter just in case He should be in them, strange as it may be. 

In this way, we should consciously experience the presence of our Lord in all things. This requires much diligence because a total effort of our senses and the powers of our mind is particularly needed; then those who manage to do so will be in a right state: seeking God equally in all things, they find God in equal measure in all. […]He to whom God is thus present in all things, who is in full control of his reason and uses it, he alone knows true peace, and he has heaven indeed” (Sermons and Treatises, vol. III, p.20).

3- According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church “the life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God” (CCC 2565).

4- During the Middle Ages the words of Jesus about praying without ceasing (with  reference to Luke 18:1) were explained, in the ordinary Biblical gloss (interpretation), as it follows: “Always live in grace: in fact, he who is in grace does not cease praying unless he ceases being in a state of grace; therefore he who acts according to virtue is always praying” (Ordinary Gloss in Luke 18:1).

5- A second way of interpreting continuous prayer consists in the will of those who pray to transform their every action into a spiritual sacrifice that is pleasing to God.

According to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, continuous prayer consists in “the perfection of the deeds made purely for the love of God, directed to Him and fulfilled in Him” (Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Diary).

In this sense, Saint Augustine said: “praying at length does not consist of praying by multiplying words. One thing is a long speech, another thing is prolonged affection. After all, it can be read that the Lord Himself used to spend the night in prayer and that he prayed at length, to be an example for us” (Letter to Proba).

And also: “Praise God with all your life. Praise Him not only with voice and song but also with the psaltery of your good deeds. Praise Him when you transact business, when you eat and drink, when you rest in bed, when you sleep. (Enarr. in Ps. CXLVI, 2).

6- A third way of interpreting continuous prayer is the so-called “Prayer of the heart“.

It is the constant repetition of a particular expression which then slowly makes its way into the heart of the one who prays. In this way, it is possible to interiorize that prayer. For the old monks such interiorized prayer consisted in the continuous remembrance of God or Jesus, namely in maintaining the presence of God or Jesus while working, talking to others, eating, etcetera.

An example of this is the prayer of the Russian Pilgrim.

7- According to others -and here is the fourth and last way- continuous prayer consists of fulfilling the obligation of praying ceaselessly by the observation of established hours during day and night; this is a really ancient Christian practice.

It can be found in the Tradition of Ippolito which urges to pray at nine, at noon, at three, before sleep, at midnight and at daybreak, namely specific hours that recall many events of Christ’s life.

To date, this form of prayer is mandatory for the Clergy and the religious: “By tradition going back to early Christian times, the divine office is devised so that the whole course of the day and night is made holy by the praises of God” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 84).

Therefore, continuous prayer consists of praying as often as possible.

Wishing you to live continuous prayer in all these four forms; I will keep you in my prayers and I bless you 

Father Angelo