Prayer is difficult for me. The church fathers knew this. When you read the words of the desert monks (and we all probably should), they talk about their distracting thoughts and sleepy eyes, their lustful desires- all the things that especially ramp up when they knelt down to pray. They understood those distractions as enemy maneuvers (be it the world, the flesh, or the devil), remembering the reality of the spiritual world and the seriousness of fallen human nature.

One of the things that has helped me in my own struggles is the use of written or pre-meditated prayers. I used to think of written prayers as utterly nonspiritual and hollow, the piling up of empty phrases that Jesus warned us about. But why do the pagans pile up those heaps of empty words? According to Jesus, it’s because they think they will be heard on account of their many words. In their mind, volume increases effect.

But that’s not the reason the Scriptures and Christian tradition have written prayers (such as the Psalms or the Lord’s Prayer). Rather, it is so that we can have a closer conversation with our Father. When our son was learning to speak, he would repeat our words. He still does this at the age of two and a half. But when he parrots those learned phrases (“yay mama!” or “I yuv you”), his he some cold and unfeeling performer, babbling words that have no connection to actual feelings for parents that he doesn’t really have a relationship with? Of course not.

With written prayers, we are learning a vocabulary that is more in line with God’s heart. This is especially true of praying Scripture. C.S. Lewis was fairly private about his personal spirituality, but when he did speak, he was insightful.

One lady wrote to him, questioning the value and use of written prayers in the church service. He responded that “ex tempore public prayer has this difficulty; we don’t know whether we can mentally join in until we’ve heard it=- it might be phony or heretical. We are, therefore, called upon to carry on a critical and a devotional activity at the same moment: two things hardly compatible.”

They may not be compatible on the face of it, but they can certainly become familiar. What Lewis said about liturgy (a church’s order of service) can also be said about fixed or written prayers:

“As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.”

Of course, one can and should talk to God spontaneously as well. We regularly tell our son that prayer is talking to God. But for the many times we are distracted, bored, at a loss, or struck with grief, we need the collective wisdom of the communion of saints to teach us fitting words of delight to express ourselves to our heavenly Father who knows what we need before we ask him.

“O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom: Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” – collect for peace, Morning Prayer