Go into Your Heart and Close the Door
Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent – March 4, 2015
APHRAHAT THE PERSIAN ascetic said, “Our Lord instructed us to pray in secret, by which he means in your heart. He also told us to close the door. The door we must shut is the mouth. We are Christ’s temple, as the Apostle said, and the Lord enters your inner self in this temple. Christ will purge it of any uncleanliness, but only while the door (your mouth) is shut.”
[Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert, p. 374.]
Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 about fasting, prayer, and almsgiving shape the season of Lent. Fasting attends to the personal dimension of the season. Almsgiving gives attention to the social or neighborly dimension of Lent. And prayer attends to our God-connection.
In Matthew 6:6 – 8, Jesus says some strange words about the location of prayer. He encourages prayer, not on the street corners (that is, public places), where people would see and notice your holiness, but a quiet, interior location. “Go into your room and shut the door,” many translations say. Some say, “Go into your closet.”
Strangely, most houses in his time didn’t have the complex maze of rooms that are standard issue in modern homes. To the contrary, houses were simple and basic, usually with one room (the ultimate House Hunter’s dream: “I love the open concept!”). I wonder if those who heard Jesus’ words originally were confused. Most houses didn’t have rooms, and if they did, they were not separated by doors.
Early on, the Church interpreted Jesus’ words in a metaphorical way, much as Aphrahat the Persian ascetic interpreted them in today’s saying. The room is your heart. This is where you are to meet God. And shutting the door is a metaphor for shutting out all the distractions and mental/emotional commentaries that keep us from being present to a time of interaction with God.
These early Christians knew that God was transportable . . . not merely “here” or “there,” but within the heart; therefore, wherever you go, God is there.
And further, they understood that interior solitude was the key to connecting with God wherever you are.
APHRAHAT THE PERSIAN ascetic said, “Our Lord instructed us to pray in secret, by which he means in your heart. He also told us to close the door. The door we must shut is the mouth. We are Christ’s temple, as the Apostle said, and the Lord enters your inner self in this temple. Christ will purge it of any uncleanliness, but only while the door (your mouth) is shut.”
[Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert, p. 374.]
Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 about fasting, prayer, and almsgiving shape the season of Lent. Fasting attends to the personal dimension of the season. Almsgiving gives attention to the social or neighborly dimension of Lent. And prayer attends to our God-connection.
In Matthew 6:6 – 8, Jesus says some strange words about the location of prayer. He encourages prayer, not on the street corners (that is, public places), where people would see and notice your holiness, but a quiet, interior location. “Go into your room and shut the door,” many translations say. Some say, “Go into your closet.”
Strangely, most houses in his time didn’t have the complex maze of rooms that are standard issue in modern homes. To the contrary, houses were simple and basic, usually with one room (the ultimate House Hunter’s dream: “I love the open concept!”). I wonder if those who heard Jesus’ words originally were confused. Most houses didn’t have rooms, and if they did, they were not separated by doors.
Early on, the Church interpreted Jesus’ words in a metaphorical way, much as Aphrahat the Persian ascetic interpreted them in today’s saying. The room is your heart. This is where you are to meet God. And shutting the door is a metaphor for shutting out all the distractions and mental/emotional commentaries that keep us from being present to a time of interaction with God.
These early Christians knew that God was transportable . . . not merely “here” or “there,” but within the heart; therefore, wherever you go, God is there.
And further, they understood that interior solitude was the key to connecting with God wherever you are.
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