========================================================================
  WHEN WE WISH TO SUGGEST OUR WANTS TO PERSONS OF HIGH STATION
  by St. Benedict of Nursia
========================================================================

Summary: Effective prayer requires humility, purity of heart, and tears
of compunction, and should be brief in community.

Topics: "Prayer Life", "Christian Humility"
Scripture References: Psalm 51:17, Matthew 6:7, Philippians 2:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, James 4:10

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------

St. Benedict of Nursia emphasizes the importance of humility and
reverence in prayer, comparing it to how we approach persons of high
station with respect. He highlights the necessity of complete humility
and pure devotion when supplicating to the Lord, emphasizing that it is
not about saying a lot but about having a pure heart and tears of
compunction. St. Benedict advises that prayers should be short and pure,
unless divinely inspired to be prolonged, and in community settings,
prayers should be brief and unified.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------

When we wish to suggest our wants to persons of high station, we do not
presume to do so except with humility and reverence. How much the more,
then, are complete humility and pure devotion necessary in supplication
of the Lord who is God of the universe! And let us be assured that it is
not in saying a great deal that we shall be heard (Matt 6:7), but in
purity of heart and in tears of compunction. Our prayer, therefore,
ought to be short and pure, unless it happens to be prolonged by an
inspiration of divine grace. In community, however, let prayer be very
short, and when the Superior gives the signal let all rise together.

========================================================================
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/st-benedict-of-nursia/when-we-wish-to-suggest-our-wants-to-persons-of-high-station/
========================================================================