By Heart
The Words We Carry With Us
“Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout this day with peace of soul and with firm conviction that Your will governs all.”
A line from the Prayer of St Philaret
As a teenager, I listened to some songs over and over again. Often, this required a steady hand to lift the needle off the record and place it down gently, so as not to scratch it, onto the track of the song already making its way into my heart.
Queen’s album, News of the World, came out in 1977 and, like most records, included all the lyrics written on the jacket. Everyone knew “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” because they got plenty of air time on the radio, as well as in sports arenas. There were, of course, nine more songs on the album. Most of them I could sing in my sleep.
For most of my adult life I found myself in a variety of Protestant Churches. Many of them were proponents of memorizing Scripture. (I’m still a fan!) However, most of these churches did not incorporate any of the ancient prayers of the Desert Mothers and Fathers, not even the prayer Jesus taught His disciples; some call it The Lord’s Prayer, and some of us call it The Our Father. There was no encouragement to commit these prayers to memory or use them in our personal prayer time. It was deemed worthless to memorize and use prayers from the saints of old.
As a very small child, I learned The Our Father, and when my mother was on her deathbed, I held her hand and prayed with her. We prayed The Our Father and only The Our Father, who knows all of her needs, mine, my siblings', her brothers’, her grandchildren’s. The prayer we knew by heart comforted us both.
The line from St. Philaret’s prayer that I quoted, “Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout this day with peace of soul and with firm conviction that Your will governs all,” the phrase “with peace of soul,” I often say with an exhale. I am not in control, and there is no need to attempt to control anything or anyone. The words of this prayer are seeping into all of me - not just my mind but also into my heart, my soul, my very being. I’ve not abandoned the practice of praying with my own words, and because of Jesus Christ I can indeed approach the throne of grace boldly and, hopefully, with the same humility of the tax collector who simply prayed, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Still, there are many warnings about what comes out of our mouths. In the past, I was flippant and said, “Whatever I say to God, He can take it,” and He can. But what I say affects me, too. The Proverb states that the tongue has the power of life and death (Prov. 18:21)
In Psalm 1, David writes that he meditates on his [God’s] Law day and night. St. Paul implores us in 1st Thessalonians to pray without ceasing. The beautiful ancient prayers like the one by St. Philaret are for our spiritual nourishment and the Glory of God. They are not meant to simply reside in our heads. Memorization of prayers ought to lead us to meditation, to slow us down, physically and mentally, to make room for the Holy Spirit to breathe within us. May I encourage you to learn a written prayer by heart and make it your own.
Peace and Love to all of you.
