How to Gain a Steady Heart

Although, as I think, enough was said on this subject in our former discussion of the character of prayer, still, since you want it repeated to you, I will give you a brief instruction on steadiness of heart. There are three things that make a wavering heart steady: keeping vigil, meditation, and prayer. Diligence and constant attention in these will produce a steady firmness of mind. But this cannot be gained in any other way unless all the cares and worries of this present life have first been got rid of. That is done by tireless persistence in work given not to greed but to the sacred uses of the monastery. In this way we may be able to fulfill the apostle’s command: “Pray without ceasing.” For the man who is used to praying only at the times when he bends his knees prays too little. But the man who, even while on his bended knees, is distracted by all kinds of wanderings of heart never prays at all. And so what we want to be found to be when we are at our prayers, we ought to be before the time of prayer. For at the time of its prayers the mind cannot help being affected by the state it was in before. While it is praying, it will either be lifted up to heavenly things, or dragged down to earthly things by the thoughts it was lingering in before prayer. [a]

So far did Abbot Isaac carry his Second Conference on the character of prayer, to us his astonished hearers. We greatly admired his teaching on dwelling on the verse quoted above, which he gave as a kind of outline for beginners to hold on to. We wished to follow it very closely, since we imagined it would be a short and easy method. But we have found it even harder to keep than that habit of ours by which we used to wander here and there, in varied meditations, through the whole body of the Scriptures, without being held by any chains of perseverance. It is certain, then, that no one is kept away from perfection of heart by not being able to read. Nor is rustic simplicity any hindrance to having purity of heart and mind. That purity lies close at hand for everyone, if only they will keep the thoughts of the mind safe and sound toward God by constant meditation on this verse. [c]