QUESTION IV

On the posture of the body in prayer

In the question that you propose to me about that passage of Scripture: King David entered and sat before the Lord (2Sam. 7,18), what can be the meaning of these words but he sat in the presence of the Lord, wherever the Ark of the Lord was? Testament, by which a more sacred and reverent presence of the Lord can be taken; whether he sat down to pray, which can not be done well except in the presence of God, that is, in the depths of the heart?

The aforementioned expression before the Lord could be interpreted by a place where there was no man to witness his prayer.

Pray, then, because of the Ark of the Testament, pray for having chosen a secret place and away from all witness, or for the refolding in the privacy of his heart, where was the fervor of the prayer, he said well: He sat before the Sir. Unless we are surprised that David prayed while sitting, which was also done by Elijah when he obtained with his prayer that it would rain.

These examples teach us that there is no prescribed bodily posture for prayer, provided the spirit, placed in the divine presence, fulfills its intention. For we pray standing, as it is written: But the publican was standing in the distance (Lc 18,13); we pray on our knees, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, and seated, according to the examples of David and Elijah. And if we did not pray also lying down, we would not say in the psalm: I will wash my bed every night and water my stage with tears (Ps. 6,7). Indeed, when one wants to pray, he places his body and takes, according to the circumstances of the time, the most convenient to awaken devotion. But when it does not go of purpose to the prayer, but a living desire to pray to us; that is, when some merciful affection comes to mind that moves us to plead with unspeakable moans, however I find one, it is not a question of deferring prayer to seek a place of retreat, or to stand up, or be prostrate. Because then the recollection of the mind creates a loneliness for itself, and often it is forgotten in what place or position that desire has surprised us.