Robert Crouse on Prayer

And so, as a pilgrim who travels along a road he has not been on before believes each building seen in the distance is the inn, and finding it not so directs his belief to the next, and so from house to house, until at last he finds the inn; just so our soul, as soon as it enters upon the new and unfamiliar road of this life, directs its eyes towards the end, the highest good, and each thing it sees which manifests some good, it takes to be that end.

And because its knowledge is at first imperfect, inexperienced and untaught, little goods seem great to it, and thus it begins its longing first with them. Thus, we see the infant intensely longing for an apple; and then, later on, for a little bird; and then, still further on, fine clothes; and then a horse; and then a mistress; then modest riches; then more; and then still more. And that is because in none of these things does it find that for which it ever seeks, and it believes to find it further on.

Prayer is the interpretation, the articulation of all this desire: the soul's ceaseless desire for God; and prayer is therefore, indeed, as George Herbert describes it, "soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage." Indeed, the desire is itself the substance of the prayer, as St. Augustine remarks in one of his sermons: "Desire itself prays, even if the tongue be still. If you always desire, always you pray. When does prayer sleep? Only when desire grows cold."

full text here (MS Word doc):

Heavenly Avarice

via the best little anglican church website in canada