Conferences of St. John Cassian - Conference Nine On Prayer, Part II

Picking up with Cassian's Conference 9 on Prayer, we continue to focus on the necessary dispositions for unceasing and pure prayer.  We must not let anything, worldly vices or concerns, weigh us down; nor can we underestimate the impact of the actions and thoughts we may consider beneficial or of little significance hinder us.  In fact, it is often that which appears good or innocent that is most destructive to our spiritual life because we pay it no attention and so don't struggle to overcome it.  Sometimes we have hidden anxieties about worldly things and seek to find our identity in them or a sense of self worth and value in the eyes of others.   The simplicity of life and detachment that allows for true prayer often eludes us and we have to struggle as did the fathers to allow God to show us the depth of prayer He is calling us to in His wisdom.