Adapted from the text of Letter 130 of Saint Augustine to Anicia Faltonia Proba (†432), a noble and Christian believer who wrote to the saint because she feared she was not praying as she should. Augustine responded with this brief and practical essay written after the year 411. Part 2.

Note: text summarized and adapted. The original can be consulted at this link.

Exercising desire with prayer

God helps us even though He knows what we need before we ask Him and moves our spirit to ask Him for it. It is surprising for those who do not understand that He does not seek for us to express our will, since He already knows it. His intention is to exercise our desires through prayer, thus preparing our capacity to receive what He is going to give us (1 Cor 2:9).

His gift is immense and we are limited and fragile to receive it. We will have a greater capacity to receive this great gift the more firmly we believe, the more firmly we hope, and the more ardently we desire.

In faith, hope, and charity, we pray with a constant desire. However, at certain times of the day we also pray to the Lord with words. This makes us aware of our progress in desire and thus encourages us to intensify it. The Apostle exhorts us to pray without interruption (Phil 4:6), that is, to “desire without interruption” the blessed life.

Prayer helps us to concentrate on the good we desire, so that what has begun to grow cold does not completely fade away through lack of constancy. We must be aware of our needs through perseverance. It will not be useless or blameworthy to devote a long time to prayer, as long as other obligations and activities, which are equally good and necessary, do not prevent us from doing so.

In these activities too, we must always pray with desire. And praying with many words is not the same as devoting a long time to prayer. There is a difference between long discourse and sustained affection. The Lord Himself is said to have spent the night in prayer and to have prayed at length (Luke 6:12). Was this not an example to show us the importance of constant prayer, even though He and the Father hear one another in eternity?

Some people exercise themselves in frequent but very short prayers, as if they were launched in the twinkling of an eye, so that the attention, which is so necessary for prayer, may be kept vigilant and alert, without becoming tired or lost in chatter.

Attention should not be forced when it cannot be maintained, nor should it be withdrawn if it can be continued. We should keep long discourses away from prayer, but maintain a supplication as long as attention is kept fervent.

To talk much in prayer is to make a matter necessary by superfluous words. On the contrary, sustained supplication is to knock at the door of the one to whom we pray, carried out with a continuous and pious emotion of the heart.

Often, this call is expressed more with moans than with words, more with crying than with speech. God keeps our tears before Him, and our sobs are not hidden from Him, for He, who created everything by His Word, does not need the human word.

For us, words are necessary and allow us to see what we are asking for:

  • By saying “hallowed be your name” (Mt 6:9), we are encouraged to desire that the name of the Lord, which is always holy, be considered as such by all and not be despised.
  • By saying “your kingdom come” (Mt 6:9), which will come whether we want it or not, we rekindle our desire that this kingdom come to us and that we deserve to reign in it.
  • By saying “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:9), we ask for our own fulfillment of His will in the same way that the angels fulfill it in heaven.
  • By saying “give us this day our daily bread” (Mt 6:9), we mean “today” as the present time and we ask for the essentials under the name of bread, as well as the sacrament, which is necessary not only for the happiness of this time, but for eternal happiness.
  • By saying “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,” we force ourselves to reflect on our actions in order to deserve to receive it.
  • By saying “lead us not into temptation,” we exhort ourselves to ask for it, lest, without divine help, temptation come upon us and we consent, seduced, or give in, afflicted.
  • By saying “but deliver us from evil” (Mt 4:12-13), we remind ourselves that we are not yet in that good place where we will not suffer any evil. The Christian, when faced with any problem, prays with this formula; With it he cries, with it he begins, with it he stops, and with it he ends his prayer.

All the other words say nothing other than what is found in the Lord’s Prayer. Whoever asks for something that does not fit into this evangelical prayer prays in the wrong way.

For example, someone says: “Show your love to all nations, as you have shown it among us”; or “May your prophets be found faithful” (Sir 36:4, 18). And what else does he say but “Hallowed be your name”?

Another says: “God of virtues, turn to us, show us your face and we will be saved” (Ps 79:4). And what else does he say but “your kingdom come”?

Another says: “Direct my paths according to your word and let no iniquity dominate me.” And what else does he say but “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?

Another says: “Give me neither riches nor poverty” (Pr 30:8). And what else does he say but “give us this day our daily bread”?

Another says: “Remember, Lord, David, his gentleness” (Ps 131:1); Or, “Lord, if I have committed this evil, if there is iniquity in my ways, if I have repaid those who have done me wrong” (Ps 7:4-5). What else does it say but “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”?

Another says: “Take away from me the sensuality of the flesh, and let me not be a slave to impure desires” (Sir 23:6). And what else does it say but “lead us not into temptation”?

Another says: “Deliver me, Lord, from my enemies and defend me from those who rise up against me” (Ps 58:2). And what else does it say but “deliver us from evil”?

If you look at all the prayers of Scripture, you will not find anything that is not contained and enclosed in the Lord’s prayer. There is freedom to repeat the same things in prayer with different words; but there is no freedom to say different things. This is what we must certainly ask for ourselves, for our loved ones, for strangers, and even for our enemies. Each one will ask according to his relationship or the closeness he has with the other, but he will do so as long as there is affection and a burning affection in the heart of the one praying.

Suppose someone prays: “Lord, multiply my riches”; or “give me as much as you gave to this one or that one”; or even “raise my dignity; make me powerful and famous in this world,” or something similar. If he feels desire for these goods, he will surely not find in the Lord’s Prayer a prayer that suits his request. He should be ashamed to ask for it if he is not already ashamed to desire it; and if he is ashamed, but does not stop asking for it because his desire dominates him, it would be better for him to ask: “but deliver us from evil.”

In my opinion, here you have not only the conditions for the one who prays, but also what one should ask for. It is not I who teach you, but He who has deigned to teach everyone. We must seek the blessed life and ask the Lord for it.

Although many have endlessly discussed this blessing, what need do we have to resort to so many authors and debates? The Bible says it clearly and precisely: “Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord” (Ps 143:15).

To be part of this people, to contemplate God and to live with Him without end, the only way is the charity of a pure heart, a good conscience and authentic faith. By enumerating these three properties, hope is put in the place of a good conscience. Therefore, faith, hope and charity lead to God the one who prays, that is, the one who believes, hopes and desires, and warns in the Lord’s Prayer what he must ask of the Lord.

Fasting, mortification of carnal sensuality without harming health, and above all, almsgiving, also greatly help prayer, allowing us to say: “In the day of my distress I sought the Lord with my hands, and in the night before him I was not disappointed” (Ps 76:3). How can one seek the Lord with one’s hands, if not through works?

Knowing how to pray as one ought

If Paul and the Christians to whom he addressed himself knew the Lord’s Prayer, why did he say: “We do not know what we ought to pray for” (Rom 8:26)? He said this because worries and sufferings heal the tumor of pride, they make us test and exercise patience. The Apostle suggests that he himself was not free from this ignorance, although perhaps he knew how to ask correctly, because in the greatness of his revelations, and so that he would not become proud, he struggled with the weakness and frailty of the flesh (1 Cor 12:7-8).

Then he asked the Lord on three occasions to free him from such despair, surely without being aware of what he was asking. In his answer God showed him why what such a great saint asked for was not fulfilled and why it was not convenient for it to be done: “My grace is sufficient for you, for virtue is made perfect in sickness” (2 Cor 12:9).

In these inner struggles, which can be useful or harmful, we do not know what to ask for in the right way. Because of their annoying nature and because they increase our fragility, we all agree in asking to be freed from them.

But we owe to our Lord the grace to understand that he does not abandon us when he does not remove these evils, but encourages us to hope for greater good by humbly enduring suffering. Thus, virtue is perfected in adversity.

The Lord sometimes granted to some what they asked for without the compassion with which he denied it to the Apostle. Thus, the Israelites who, after satisfying their lust, were severely punished for their impatience (Numbers 11:1-34); when they asked for a king in their own way, and not according to the will of God, it was granted to them (2 Sam 8:5-7); Even the devil was allowed to do what he asked to test his servant Job (Job 1:12; 2:6), and he listened to the unclean spirits who asked to enter the herd of pigs (Luke 8:32).

This was so that no one would feel proud if God listened to him when he asked impatiently for something inconvenient, and so that no one would be discouraged by divine mercy if God did not grant him what could be his downfall or ruin, leaving him to fall into the corruption of prosperity, into the deception of having.

In such situations, we do not know how to ask as we should. If the opposite of what we asked for happens, we must accept it with patience and give thanks to God, without doubting that what happens by his will is more appropriate to what we desire. Our Savior left us an example when he said: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me,” but he added: “Nevertheless not what I want, but what you want” (Mt 26:39).

But he who asks the Lord and seeks the blessed life asks with certainty and confidence; he does not fear that there will be obstacles to receiving it, because without it, anything else he asks for will be of no use.

This blessed life consists in contemplating the delight of the Lord eternally, endowed with immortality and incorruptibility. For this reason, everything else is asked for properly. He who has this has all that he desires; and he will not be able to desire anything that is not suitable.

In this place is the fountain of life (Ps 35:10), whose thirst we must quench in prayer while we live in hope. Now we live without seeing what we long for, under the wings of him before whom we express our desire, to be intoxicated by the abundance of his house and to be satisfied by the torrent of his happiness; for in Him is the fountain of life, and in His light we must see light (Ps 35:8-10). Then our desire for good things will be satisfied, and we will not have to cry out, but we will enjoy everything.

Yet, since He is the peace that surpasses all understanding, we do not know what we are asking for in the right way. We cannot imagine Him as He is, and so we are ignorant of Him. In fact, we reject, avoid, and disapprove of everything that comes to mind; we know that this is not what we are seeking, even though we do not know what it is really like.

There is a wise ignorance in us, so to speak, wise thanks to the Spirit of God, who assists us in our weakness. For the Apostle says: “If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” And then he adds: “In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit itself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what the Spirit knows, because he intercedes for the saints according to God” (Rom 8:25-27). The Spirit of God intercedes for the saints because He impels the saints to intercede. Likewise it is said: “The Lord your God tests you to see whether you love him” (Deut 13:3), that is, so that you may recognize him.

The Holy Spirit incites the saints to intercede with inexpressible groans, inspiring in them the desire for that great reality, which is still unknown to us and which we await with patience. How can we express what is unknown but desired? If it were completely unknown to us, we would not desire it; but if we saw it, we would not desire it or ask for it with eagerness.

Bearing all this in mind, and whatever else the Lord suggests to you that I have not mentioned, or that is too long to relate, strive to continue to fight through prayer.

Pray with hope, pray with fidelity and love, pray with perseverance and patience; pray like Christ’s widow. Although, as He taught, the act of prayer belongs to all His members, that is, to all those who believe in Him and are united to His body, in Scripture the most diligent concern for prayer is especially associated with widows.

Two Annas are mentioned with great honour: one married, who gave birth to the holy Samuel, and the other widow, who met the Holy of Holies when he was still a child (Lk 2:36-38). The first prayed in the anguish of her soul and in the affliction of her heart, because she had no offspring; and she received Samuel, whom she then returned to God, as she had promised when she asked for him.

It is difficult to establish how her request fits into the Lord’s Prayer, unless it relates to “deliver us from evil”; for she considered it a lesser evil to be married and childless, since the reason for raising children could excuse that condition.

Now, consider what is said of the other Anna, the widow: “She did not depart from the temple, serving day and night with fasting and supplication” (Lk 2:37). This is in keeping with Paul’s words: “She who is truly a widow and desolate, hopes in the Lord and perseveres in prayer day and night” (1 Tim 5:5).

The Lord also, in encouraging us to pray always and not to lose heart, quoted a widow who, by her constant interpellations, forced an unjust, impious judge who despised God and men to hear her case (Lk 18:1-5).

Widows, more than anyone else, should devote themselves to prayer. This is deduced from seeing that, to motivate us all in the effort to pray, the example of widows is presented to us as a motivating and challenging example.

And what is it that we observe in widows in relation to the practice of prayer, if not their helplessness and desolation? The soul that feels itself forsaken and desolate in this world, while wandering far from the Lord (2 Cor 5:6), manifests, by its perseverance and fervent supplication, a kind of widowhood before God, its defender.

Pray as a widow of Christ, who does not yet enjoy the presence of Him whose help you implore. And even if you are rich, pray as if you were poor. For you do not yet possess the true riches of the future, where you will no longer have to fear any harm.

Even if you have children, grandchildren, and a large family, pray as if you were forsaken. All temporal and material things are uncertain, even if, for our comfort, they hold on to the end of this life. If you seek and long for the things above (Col 3:1-2), you desire the eternal and the secure; and since you do not yet have them, you must consider yourself desolate, even if you keep all your goods and receive honors from all.

And not only you, but also your dear daughter-in-law, following your example, as well as the other holy widows and virgins who are under your protection. The better you manage your home, the more you should insist on prayer, not letting yourself be caught up in the concerns of present affairs, unless they are necessary for a good cause.

Do not forget, in the end, to pray for me diligently. I do not want such an honor if you are going to take away from me the help I consider necessary. The family of Christ prayed for Peter and also for Paul (Acts 12:5; 13:3). I am glad to know that you are part of that family. However, as you well know, I need infinitely more than Peter and Paul the prayers of my brothers and sisters.

Persevere in prayer, for you are fighting not among yourselves, but all together against the enemy of all that is holy. Prayer is greatly strengthened by fasting, vigils, and every sacrifice. Each of you must do what you can. What one cannot do, another will do for her, if she loves in the other what she cannot do.

Therefore, the one who is less able should not hinder the one who is more able, nor should the latter demand from the one who is less able. For all of you owe your conscience to God. But to none of you owe anything except love for one another (Rom 13:8).

May the Lord hear you, for He can do more than all we ask or imagine (Eph 3:20).