by PAUL

1 Thessalonians 5:17 urges us to “pray without ceasing.”

I’ve been thinking about this instruction a fair bit of late. “Finding God in all things,” the cri de coeur of the Ignatian family, is one thing but trying to pray all the time is quite another.

The only way I can get my head around it is either to broaden my definition of prayer or change my interpretation of “without ceasing.” As is the case with many things, I think it means doing a bit of both.

Beyond any formal prayer, I believe that any life consciously directed at loving God and one’s neighbor is, perforce, prayerful.

You do not have to be muttering the “Jesus Prayer” every waking moment to be a person of prayer. Nor does “without ceasing” mean that you can’t take time away from prayer to watch a sitcom on TV or have a long chat about inconsequential matters with a friend.

It seems to me that “pray without ceasing” is as much about a disposition and commitment than it is about any specific plan of action.

Am I wrong?