Prayer And The Inner Room

Tu autem cum orabis, intra in cubiculum... Cubiculum autem dicit secretius mentis arcanum, ubi nemo videre potest quid sit in illo, nisi spiritus hominis qui est in eo. De hoc quippe cubili David monendo canit: Quae dicitis, inquit, in cordibus vestris, et in cubilibus vestris compungimini; videtur enim aliquid secretius per ea velle significari, dum quae corde promimus, quasi introrsus prius compungi jubemur. Ad hujus ergo cubilis ostium pulsat sapientia Patris ita dicens: Ecce sto ad ostium et pulso. Quod sane ostium ei per fidem aperitur, de quo in Canticis sponsa loquitur: Pessulum ostii mei aperui dilecto meo. Pulsat itaque Christus ad ostium, quoties per aspirationem boni operis mentem afficit, cujus profecto vox, quam saepe blandientis affectu ingeminat, ita dicens: Aperi mihi, soror mea, amica mea, columba mea, immaculata mea, quae nisi pulsanti aperuerit, vacua introrsus in se redit. Quid enim prodest orare in eo cubiculo mentis, ubi nec Pater, nec Filius, nec Spiritus sanctus venientes adhuc recepti sunt, neque mansionem apud eum fecere? Quapropter quisquis infra cubiculum cordis Deum, ut jussum est, vult orare, prius per fidem ostium pulsanti aperiat, et deosculetur eum per charitatem, atque intra cubiculum genitricis suae, ubi doceatur ab eo, devotus indicat. Alioquin quid prodest orare ubi non esse velis quem oras? Quod si fide jam tenes quem diligis ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex tota virtute tua, recte intras cubiculum mentis, ubi Deus Trinitas per fidem colitur, per charitatem amplectitur, per spem quoque profundius solidatur. Tale quippe templum jam sacrum est, sicut ait Apostolus: Templum Dei sanctum est, quod estis vos. Quid igitur prodest introire, orandi gratia, quo nullus est religionis locus? Idcirco, quia gratis venit Christus pulsans ad ostium, suscipiatur, et per charitatem interius tacita conscientia amplectatur Deus Trinitas: tum utique, sicut praecipitur, claudatur ostium, et oretur Deus Pater. Oretur autem non strepitu verborum tantum, sed fide ac spe et charitate intus quod quaerimus impetretur. Haec est, inquam, vera religio Christianitatis, non ut ultra coelos aut infra abyssum, vel circa fines terrarum quaerendo Deum animus se diffundat, sed intus quem diligit fide teneat, et eisdem virtutibus quibus eum colit attentius exoret. Sic itaque decet adorare eum, qui nec loco clauditur, nec fine terminatur. Sanctus Paschasius Radbertus Corbeiensis, Expositio In Evangelium Matthaei, Liber IV, Caput VI Source: Migne PL 120.275b-276a

But you, when you pray, go into an inner room... 1 He speaks of the inner room as the secret place of the heart, where no one can see what is there unless the spirit of a man that is in him. 2 Certainly concerning this David exhorts when he says, 'What you say in your hearts, struggle with in your inner rooms.' 3 for it seems there is something more secret he wishes to signify with this, that while we bring forth things from the heart, we are first commanded to struggle. And therefore the wisdom of God the Father knocks at this door, saying, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock.' 4 Which door is opened through faith, concerning which the bride says in the Song of Songs, 'I opened the bolts of my door to my beloved.' 5 Therefore Christ knocks at the door as many times as we fix the mind in hope of good works, the voice of whom often encourages with love, saying, 'Open to me, my sister, my friend, my dove, my flawless one.' 6 which unless she shall open to him who knocks she will remain within empty in herself. For what does it profit to pray in the secret place of the mind, when there is no Father, no Son, no Holy Spirit coming and received, nor a resting place made for them? 7 Therefore whoever wishes to pray to God within the inner room of his heart, he first in faith opens the door to Him who knocks, and he embraces Him in love, even within the inner room of her who bore him, 8 where he may be taught by Him, he devoutly indicates. Besides what does it profit to pray when you have not care for the one to whom you pray? Only if in faith you hold to Him you love with your whole heart, and your whole soul and your whole strength, do you rightly enter into the inner room of your mind where God the trinity is worshipped in faith, and embraced in love, and in hope made more firm. Such then is the holy temple about which the Apostle speaks, saying, 'Because you are a holy temple of God.' 9 How could it profit to enter for the sake of prayer into a place where there is no religion? Therefore, because Christ comes knocking at the door, let Him be received, and in the love of a silent conscience within let God the Trinity be embraced. In this way, as commanded, there is prayer to God the Father. For one does not pray to Him with the sound of words only, but within in faith and hope and charity, which we are bidden to seek. This, I say, is the true Christian religion. It is not beyond the sky, or deep within the abyss, or somewhere at the ends of the world that the soul must scatter itself in the search for God, but within let it hold to Him whom it loves, and with the same efforts which it worships let it attentively pray. Thus it befits to adore Him, whom no place encloses, nor limitation constrains. Saint Paschasius Radbertus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 4, Chapter 6 1 Mt 6.6 2 1 Cor 2.11 3 Ps 4.5 4 Apoc 3.20 5 Song 5.6 6 Song 5.2 7 Jn 14.23 8 Song 3.4 9 1 Cor 3.17