From
a Treatise on the Lord’s Prayer by Saint Cyprian
Let your prayer come from a humble
heart
 hen we pray, our words
should be calm, modest and disciplined. Let us reflect that we are standing before
God. We should please Him both by our bodily posture and the manner of our speech.
It is characteristic of the vulgar to shout and make a noise, not those who are
modest. The modest should employ a quiet tone in their prayer.
Moreover, in the course of His teaching,
the Lord instructed us to pray in secret. Hidden and secluded places,
even our own rooms, give witness to our belief that God is present everywhere; that He
sees and hears all; that in the fullness of His majesty, He penetrates hidden and secret
places. 
This is the teaching of Jeremiah: Am I God when I am near, and not God when
I am far away? Can anyone hide in a dark corner without My seeing him? Do I not fill heaven
and earth? Another passage of Scripture says: The eyes of the Lord are everywhere,
observing both good and wicked men.
The same modesty and discipline should characterize
our liturgical prayer as well. When we gather to celebrate the divine mysteries with God’s
priest, we should not express our prayer in unruly words; the petition that should be made to
God with moderation is not to be shouted out noisily and verbosely. For God hears our heart not
our voice. He sees our thoughts, and He is not to be shouted at. The Lord showed us this when He
asked: Why do you think evil in your hearts? The book of Revelation testifies to this also:
And all the churches shall know that I am the One Who searches the heart and the
desires.
Anna maintained this rule; in her observance of it
she is an image of the Church. In the First Book of Kings we are told that she prayed quietly
and modestly to God in the recesses of her heart. Her prayer was secret but her faith was evident.
She did not pray with her voice, but with her heart, for she knew that in this way the Lord would
hear her. She prayed with faith and obtained what she sought. Scripture makes this clear in the
words: She was speaking in her heart; her lips were moving but her voice could not be heard;
and the Lord heard her prayer. The psalmist also reminds us: Commune within your own hearts,
and in the privacy of your room express your remorse. This is the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
Through Jeremiah He suggests this: Say in your hearts: Lord, it is You that we have to
worship.
My friends, anyone who worships should remember
the way in which the tax-collector prayed in the temple alongside the Pharisee. He did not
raise his eyes immodestly to heaven or lift up his hands arrogantly. Instead he struck his
breast and confessing the sins hidden within his heart he implored the assistance of God’s
mercy. While the Pharisee was pleased with himself, the tax-collector deserved to be cleansed
much more because of the manner in which he prayed. For he did not place his hope of salvation
in the certainty of his own innocence; indeed, no one is innocent. Rather he prayed humbly,
confessing his sins. And the Lord who forgives the lowly heard his prayer.
—Saint Cyprian, bishop
Office of Readings, Week 11, Sunday
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