Chrysostom
Beloved of All
The silence of the lips profits nothing if the heart clamors with worldly cares. When you come before God, you bring the marketplace into the church. You chatter within about gains and petty tradings, and the noise of your own business drowns out the heavenly discourse. True silent prayer is not the mere absence of sound; it is the stillness of a soul freed from distraction, listening to God. If you rush from the fight of the day and have not first made God propitious, you carry the tempest into your prayer. You need the armor of light, and that armor is put on in earnest, watchful supplication.
Do not think you have no need of another’s prayer because you pray silently. Even Paul needed the prayers of the saints. But do not rely on the prayers of holy men while you yourself sleep. Go, seek them out if you must, but know this: their prayers will not deliver you if you remain in your sins. Your own vigilance must join with their intercession. For prayer is not a show of weakness that needs many words; the Lord Himself gave thanks and was heard, not because He lacked power, but to teach you that His will is one with the Father’s and that your prayer must be a communion, not a transaction.
Therefore, when you enter your chamber in silence, first silence the market within you. Let there be no discord between your lips and your mind. The day is a fight, and prayer is your great weapon, take it up before you go out, so that you may walk through the storm without shipwreck. Let your silence be an attentive listening, a holy poise of the soul, and not an empty void filled with the echoes of worldly business. For it is in that sacred quiet, when you are estranged from the world, that you give your whole soul to God.
Do not think you have no need of another’s prayer because you pray silently. Even Paul needed the prayers of the saints. But do not rely on the prayers of holy men while you yourself sleep. Go, seek them out if you must, but know this: their prayers will not deliver you if you remain in your sins. Your own vigilance must join with their intercession. For prayer is not a show of weakness that needs many words; the Lord Himself gave thanks and was heard, not because He lacked power, but to teach you that His will is one with the Father’s and that your prayer must be a communion, not a transaction.
Therefore, when you enter your chamber in silence, first silence the market within you. Let there be no discord between your lips and your mind. The day is a fight, and prayer is your great weapon, take it up before you go out, so that you may walk through the storm without shipwreck. Let your silence be an attentive listening, a holy poise of the soul, and not an empty void filled with the echoes of worldly business. For it is in that sacred quiet, when you are estranged from the world, that you give your whole soul to God.
