Nothing is more important than prayer. Saints or sinners, penitents or those troubled by the assaults of temptation—we are all urgently invited to pray without ceasing. For sincere prayer necessarily involves that virtue which is the golden bond and foundation of all other virtues: humility.
A Paradoxical Exhortation
Holy Scripture contains numerous parables and exhortations regarding the great power of prayer. This is entirely coherent both with the virtue of humility—most deeply involved in any authentic prayer—and with the demand to restore a living, complete and vivid relationship with God. In moments such as the present, during the conclave for electing the next pontiff, the necessity of imploring God becomes obvious to all of us. And yet, despite the naturalness of the biblical teaching about the crucial importance of prayer, a verse from the First Epistle to the Thessalonians by the Holy Apostle Paul perplexes us every time we read it:
“Pray without ceasing” (“Sine intermissione orate” – 1 Thessalonians 5:17).
How can anyone pray without ceasing? Is this possible? Is it realistic? The Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church have already asked themselves this question. For example, the great Cappadocian saint, Basil, wonders whether “it is possible to obey such a command” from the Apostle. By exploring their responses, we may succeed in resolving the mystery of such an apparently impossible requirement.
One of the most brilliant Greek Fathers, Saint Athanasius the Great (c.296-373), interprets this verse by associating it with the two that accompany it:
“Always rejoice. Pray without ceasing. In all things give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18).
Taken together, these words point to the context of liturgical feasts, whose very essence is prayer directed by the entire community to God:
“What is the feast, but the constant worship of God, and the recognition of godliness, and unceasing prayers, with concord, from the whole heart?”[i]
Liturgical cycles, repeated—on a micro level—weekly, and on a macro level, with every feast established by the Church calendar, are the best occasion to practice unceasing prayer. And since these liturgical cycles are perpetual, from this we can easily deduce the perpetuity of prayer as well. Let us also note the importance of unity in faith, the harmony among those engaged in such communal acts of worship. This, then, is a first answer to the demand made by the great missionary apostle that we pray without ceasing.
As we can deduce from Saint Basil’s words, prayer should not be reduced merely to fulfilling an obligation.
Kind David and Saint Basil the Great’s Teaching
Although he ultimately reaches the same conclusion regarding unceasing prayer, another great Greek Doctor of the Church, Saint Basil the Great (330–379), develops his interpretation starting from the harrowing experience of King David. Whether in moments of joy or great trials, in a state of grace or in the terrible turmoil of his falls, David never ceased to pray—just as, during the current crisis, we ourselves must do.:
“Because he [David] had been delivered from great danger, he sent up this prayer of thanksgiving to God who had rescued him. ― ‘I will bless the Lord at all times.’ Having escaped death, as if he were setting up norms for his life, he molded his soul to an exact manner of living, so that he ceased at no time from praise but referred the beginning of affairs, great and small, to God. ‘I will not think, ― he says, ― that anything was done through my diligence nor happened through spontaneous chance, but, ‘I will bless the Lord at all times,’ not only in prosperity of life, but also in precarious times. The apostle, learning from this, says, ― ‘Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all things give thanks’.”[ii]
In a homily dedicated to the martyr Julitta, who was killed for her faith along with her three-year-old son Cyricus in the year 304, the same Father offers a broader interpretation of the requirement for unceasing prayer. The foundation of his teaching lies in explaining the deep nature of prayer—a nature that does not allow it to be reduced merely to its vocal dimension, based on words and syllables:
“Prayer is a petition for good addressed by the pious to God. But we do not rigidly confine our petition to words. Nor yet do we imagine that God requires to be reminded by speech. He knows our needs even though we ask Him not. What do I say then? I say that we must not think to make our prayer complete by syllables. The strength of prayer lies rather in the purpose of our soul and in deeds of virtue reaching every part and moment of our life.”[iii]
The words above contain one of the most important teachings about the deepest motivation for prayer. As we can deduce from Saint Basil’s words, prayer should not be reduced merely to fulfilling an obligation. More than that, it must spring from the soul’s orientation towards Paradise, from the perpetual longing for the Kingdom of Heaven. It is precisely this kind of orientation that transforms every act into prayer. In this way, we are inwardly moved not just by a duty we must perform, but by a vital impulse—like the one that compels us to eat in order to stay alive.
Of course, it is prayer that helps us open ourselves to the supernatural life of grace. Every gesture, every deed, every moment of life—Saint Basil teaches us—becomes an opportunity to remember our Creator and Benefactor, God. Even the most ordinary acts are a unique occasion to pray, to ask, and to give thanks:
“As thou takest thy seat at table, pray. As thou liftest the loaf, offer thanks to the Giver. When thou sustainest thy bodily weakness with wine, remember Him Who supplies thee with this gift, to make thy heart glad and to comfort thy infirmity. Has thy need for taking food passed away? Let not the thought of thy Benefactor pass away too. As thou art putting on thy tunic, thank the Giver of it. As thou wrappest thy cloak about thee, feel yet greater love to God, Who alike in summer and in winter has given us coverings convenient for us, at once to preserve our life, and to cover what is unseemly. Is the day done? Give thanks to Him Who has given us the sun for our daily work, and has provided for us a fire to light up the night, and to serve the rest of the needs of life. Let night give the other occasions of prayer. When thou lookest up to heaven and gazest at the beauty of the stars, pray to the Lord of the visible world; pray to God the Arch-artificer of the universe, Who in wisdom hath made them all. When thou seest all nature sunk in sleep, then again worship Him Who gives us even against our wills release from the continuous strain of toil, and by a short refreshment restores us once again to the vigour of our strength. Let not night herself be all, as it were, the special and peculiar property of sleep. Let not half thy life be useless through the senselessness of slumber. Divide the time of night between sleep and prayer. Nay, let thy slumbers be themselves experiences in piety; for it is only natural that our sleeping dreams should be for the most part echoes of the anxieties of the day. As have been our conduct and pursuits, so will inevitably be our dreams. Thus wilt thought pray without ceasing; if thought prayest not only in words, but unitest thyself to God through all the course of life and so thy life be made one ceaseless and uninterrupted prayer. ”
If you truly seek to love the Savior Jesus Christ—our Redeemer—“with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12: 30), then unceasing prayer becomes possible.
The Prayer of the Heart
And yet, why do we so often experience difficulty in prayer? Dryness, sterility, the soul’s inability to pray? Why—at least at times—are we even lazy when it comes to prayer? Why do we forget to pray? Beyond our own negative experiences with prayer, why do we so often hear people—even within the Church—say that they cannot pray? Or, as I myself have heard, that they cannot pray together with someone else, but only, perhaps, on their own?
The answer can be found in Saint John Cassian. In a meditation addressed to monks, he explains when and under what conditions the apostolic exhortation can truly be fulfilled:
“When the mind is freed from lust, established in tranquility and does not waver in its intention toward the one supreme good, the monk will fulfill the precept of St. Paul, ‘Pray without ceasing,’ and ‘In every place lifting up holy hands without wrath and controversy.’ By purity of heart the mind is drawn away from earthly feelings and is reformed in the likeness of an angelic spirit. Then, whatever thought the mind receives, whatever it considers, whatever it does, will be a prayer of true purity and sincerity.”[iv]
Although especially intended for those who have chosen the difficult path of consecrated life, the passage above clearly reveals the primary source of all obstacles to prayer: concupiscence, from which our passions arise, along with the unleashed desires for worldly things (with particular emphasis on sexual inclinations and vices that lead to sins of impurity).
The key to victory over these lies in the guiding star of the spiritual life, which, I assure you, must also be a genuine aspiration for us, the laity: purity of heart. Only when we are freed from the entanglements of an impure heart—attached to earthly things—can we attain the true practice of prayer. But a pure heart is not easily gained. Practically speaking, we have no other means than—you guessed it—prayer. How else? After all, it was King David, the psalmist, who prayed in this way:
“Create a clean heart in me, O God” (“Cor mundum crea in me, Deus” – Psalm 50: 12).
This reminds us of the famous advice of the Desert Fathers: “Pray as you can until you are able to pray as you should.”
Let us now return once more to the interpretations of the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to pray without ceasing. In the same line of thought as Saint Basil the Great, who identifies a fundamental attitude of the soul as an essential premise for perpetual prayer, Saint Augustine offers his own contribution. He, too, asked how such a demand could possibly be fulfilled. Here is his response:
“It is your heart’s desire that is your prayer. If your desire continues uninterrupted, your prayer continues also. For it was not without meaning, when the apostle said, ― ‘Pray without ceasing.’ Are we to be in bending the knee and prostrating the body and lifting up our hands, such that he says, ―without ceasing? If that is what ‘without ceasing’ means, then I do not believe it is possible. There is another kind of inward prayer without ceasing, which is the desire of the heart.”[v]
The great Doctor of the Latin-speaking world explains, in his crystal-clear style, that indeed, physical prayer—accompanied by all the holy gestures that go with it—is not possible without ceasing. No one can pray like that continuously. Our physical limitations require pauses and rest.
However, our hearts, which remain ever “awake” through their longing for God, can fulfill this command that at first seems impossible. If you truly seek to love the Savior Jesus Christ—our Redeemer—“with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12: 30), then unceasing prayer becomes possible.
The great saints and mystics of all times bear witness to such a spiritual reality, which is sometimes accompanied by extraordinary mystical graces. Thus, we approach one of the most well-known practices of Eastern Christianity: the “prayer of the heart.” But we will speak about that in another article. Until then, let us pray to the Lord!
[i] The Festal Epistles of Saint Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Translated from the Syriac, with Notes and Indices, Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1854, p. 94.
[ii] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon, By Peter J. Gorday (Editor), IVP Academic, 2000, p. 97.
[iii] The entire homily in which Saint Basil the Great presents his interpretation can be read online here: https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf208.vi.ii.v.html [Accessed: 06 May 2025].
[iv] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Ed. Cit., p. 98.
[v] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon, ibidem.
