Augustine on prayer : Sin, desire and the form of life

[Extract] For Augustine, prayer is always in via, not only in the sense of spiritual development, but in the sense of always being on the way to something else. When Augustine talks about prayer he is also often speaking about something else as well.To understand Augustine on prayer is, then, to appreciate prayer not as a distinct practice that is started and stopped at will. Rather, it is to see prayer as a life form that manifests in all facets of his individual and communal existence.

In this chapter, I shall not attempt to report, even in summary form, on such a totalizing vision. Instead, I will organize Augustine’s understanding of prayer around his developing sense of what it means to ‘pray without ceasing’ as is commanded by 1 Thessalonians 5.17. Augustine’s response to this Pauline command develops in concert with his thinking about the soul’s desire for God. Augustine famously proclaimed, ‘Your desire is your prayer, your prayer is your desire.