There’s a phrase from the Desert Fathers and Mothers – these were the early Christian monks. The monastic movement was a movement of Christian discipleship. It began in the 4th, 5th centuries after the church had begun to become very institutionalised in part of the Roman Empire. And many of those early disciples committed themselves to lives of great simplicity, seeking to live the gospel in purity of heart and poverty of spirit, with prayer at their centre of the existence. Of course it was from them that we have our teaching on Christian meditation as it has been passed on from one generation to the next. One of their great teachings on prayer is: ‘The monk who knows that he’s praying is not truly praying; the monk who does not know that he is praying is truly praying’. Doesn’t seem to make sense does it? But actually it makes a lot of sense.
Christian Life in the Light of Christian Meditation 2: Holyness by Laurence Freeman OS
