Return to the Heart

By Scott Ferrier, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

A couple of years ago, I was browsing the collection of books kept in the library of the Miles Jesu house in Rome. My eyes fell upon a small, tattered and cheap-looking paperback with a red cover and black lettering—the book was Teach Us to Pray published in 1974 by Fr. Andre Louf, a Trappist monk.

Prayer can at times be both difficult and discouraging. We can be influenced by our science-based, rationalistic culture which lauds the values of acquisition, performance, technique, and method. For me, the practice of prayer required mastery to be successful, as with any skill. I believed if I found the right ‘method,’ I would grow closer to God and advance in the spiritual life.

Enter Fr. Louf. From the beginning chapter, his description of the source of prayer gave me a lot of encouragement. I can often be distracted by self-analysis and idle thoughts and disappointed by ‘wasted effort.’ He points out some little-known details of ‘the way of the heart’ as practiced in the early Church, the desert fathers, and in the monastery.

How can God dwell in a heart where good and evil are in such conflict? Our “true heart,” he says, is hidden, concealed by our sins and the outer world of senses, impressions, and feelings. At this point we often end up in the land of abstraction. We have to, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “return to the heart” (Isa. 46:8) and awaken to it—the work of a lifetime. The true heart is where, in solitude, is found the deepest “I”—the image of God in us. There is no need to search elsewhere.

Our heart is constantly in a state of prayer with God. After our baptism and in a state of grace, the Holy Spirit is an unceasing fountain in us, literally flowing with prayer. At every moment, the ‘Fire within’ calls us, praying, “Abba-Father.” At the door’s entrance, the spiritual combat takes place—hence, our Blessed Mother encourages us to various ascetic practices, especially during the time of Lent.