fr paul's blog

In order to enter into prayer, let us begin by understanding something we must keep telling ourselves over and over again: that there is in us an unconquerable citadel where no force, human or diabolical, can enter and drag us out.  It is the heart.
As long as we are conscious, we can be sure that no one can reach that centre of ourselves and make us deny that intimate relationship we have with God and ourselves.
We need to recall this truth, to prevent us from falling into the role of either the Pharisee or the pagan at prayer.  Either we play a role, or we are afraid of failure.  In either case, it is not God we seek.  Besides that, we are not ourselves, but we live in the image of others have made us, or according to the idea we have conceived of ourselves.
To pray, be free:
free from others, from the self above all.  Free from all poses, all sentimentalism, all over-concern with psychological factors, in the liberty God has given you so that you may be his.