In its essence, prayer is a simple attitude of the soul, a silent acquiescing to the action of the Holy Spirit who awakens in our heart a humble and suppliant desire of God and of the things of God. At the same time, it makes us experience a quiet and hidden joy and peace, giving us the conviction of being loved by our heavenly Father and of being continually saved by Him.
Even in its simplest expression, where it is reduced to a mere glance toward God, prayer assumes, in some sort, a passover rhythm: it is, on the one hand, the recognition and confession of our distress, of our inability to earn our true happiness by our own resources, confident supplication and filial self-surrender into the hands of the Father; on the other hand, it is the joyous confession of salvation already granted, thanksgiving and admiring praise. For it is by appropriating in us the prayer of Christ himself such as it sprang from His heart in His passion and His resurrection that the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray.
FRANCIS ACHARYA, OCSO Cistercian Spirituality: An Ashram Perspective
