| Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi: id est, non corporis voce, quae cum strepitu verberati aeris promitur; sed voce cordis, quae hominibus silet, Deo autem sicut clamor sonat. Qua voce Susanna exaudita est: et de qua voce ipse Dominus praecipit, ut in cubiculis clausis, id est, in secretis cordis sine strepitu oretur. Nec facile quisquam dixerit hac voce minus orari, si nullus verborum sonus reddatur ex corpore; quoniam et silentes cum in cordibus oramus, si alienae ab affectu orantis cogitationes intercurrant, nondum dici potest: Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi. Neque hoc recte dicitur, nisi cum sola anima, nihil carnis nihilque carnalium intentionum in oratione attrahens, loquitur Domino, ubi solus audit; clamor autem etiam iste dicitur, propter vim ipsius intentionis. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, Enarratio in Psalmum III |
'With my voice I have cried out to the Lord', 1 that is, not with the voice of the body, which is sent forth with the sound of the reverberation of the air, but with the voice of the heart, which is silent to men, but to God sounds like a cry. By this voice Susanna was heard, and with this voice the Lord Himself commanded that in closed closets, 2 that is, in the hidden places of the heart, without noise, one should pray. Nor would anyone easily say one prays less with this voice, if no sound of words is emitted from the body, because even when in silence we pray within the heart, if by unwanted disposition the thoughts of the one praying are troubled, it cannot yet be said, 'With my voice I have cried out to the Lord.' Nor is this said rightly, save when the soul alone, taking to itself nothing of the flesh, and nothing of the intent of the flesh, in prayer speaks to God, where He only hears. But even this is called a cry because of the strength of its intention. Saint Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms, Psalm 3 |
1 Ps 3:4
2 Mt 6:6
3 Ps 3.5
4 Dan 2.45
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