HOW WE SHOULD PRAY

In this world we must always pray, because we are always in need of divine help to be consoled in our afflictions and to be assisted in our temporal and spiritual needs before our visible and invisible enemies. You say that you cannot pray continuously: pray as often as you can, at the beginning of your main actions and, above all, in the temptations that the enemy of salvation devises against you.

Pray with such respect and modesty that your prayer edifies others. God demands from you, while you pray, the attention of the spirit and the modesty of the body. That recollection and modesty will help you a lot to attain inner modesty. Would you dare to speak to an important person in the way that you often do with God? With what haste you say your vocal prayers! When you start praying think of the majesty of God before whom the cherubim tremble, and you will speak to Him with more respect, humility, and modesty. Prayer itself can become sin (St. Augustine).

Mindfulness should always accompany your prayers. God is spirit and he wants you to worship Him in spirit. Your mouth speaks to God, but your heart is far from Him, it is occupied with riches, absorbed in the love of creatures. It is your heart what God asks of you, and not the words of your lips.  How can you ask God to listen to you when you don't even listen to yourself? (Saint Cyprian).

Small Compendium of Meditations