The Mourning Of Salvation

Accedit et tetrius: Beati qui lugent, quoniam ipsi consolabuntur. Quis nobis iste luctus intelligendas est salutaris? Utique non ille, qui ex rerum detrimentis, non qui ex amissione charorum, nec qui ex jactura saecularium dignitatum: quae utique omnia jam pauper factus spiritu non dolebit. Hic est luctus salutaris, qui agitur pro peccatis, pro recordatione divini judicii. Nam quia prius inter innumeras saeculi occupationes et asperitates animus constituis, de se ipse cogitare non poterat; jam securus et mitis effectus, incipit se ipsum propius intueri, examinare actus suos diurnos atque nocturnos: et sic praeteritorum criminum vulnera incipiunt apparere, et tunc luctus ac lacrymae subsequuntur salutares, et adeo salubres, ut mox coelestis consolatio occurrat: verus enim qui dixit: Beati qui lugent, quoniam ipsi consolabuntur Sanctus Chromatius Aquileiensis, Sermo De Octo Beatitudinibus

He comes to the third: Blessed are those who mourn, because they shall be comforted. 1 Who among us has understanding of the mourning of salvation? Certainly not the one who mourns for things lost, or for the taking away of moveables, or for being cast out of worldly honours, all things which certainly the one who has already been made poor of spirit shall not grieve. This is the mourning of salvation: the one who on account of sin recalls the Divine judgement. For since before amid innumerable worldly occupations and troubles the soul was placed, concerning oneself one was not able to think, but now secure in meekness, one begins to study oneself, to examine one's acts day and night, and so begin to appear the wounds of past criminality, and then follows salutary grieving and tears, and so comes the benefit, that soon the consolation of the heavens draws near, for truly He said: 'Blessed are those who mourn because they shall be comforted.' Saint Chromatius of Aquileia, Sermon on the Eight Beatitudes 1. Mt 5.5

Seeking in Prayer

Μόνην ζήτει ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ σου τὴν δικαιοσύνην, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν, τουτέστι τὴν ἀρετὴν, καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα προστεθήσεταί σοι. Δίκαιον, μὴ μόνον περὶ οἰκείας καθάρσεως προσεύχεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὲρ παντὸς τοῦ ὁμοφύλου, ἵνα ἀγγελικὸν μιμήσῃ τρόπον.  ̔́Ορα ἐὰν ὰληθῶς Θεῷ̈ παρέστηκας ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ σου, ἢ ἐπαίνῳ ἀνθρώπων ἡττᾶσαι, καὶ τούτων θηρᾷν ἐπείγῃ, ὥσπερ ἐπικαλύμματι κεκρημένος τῇ παρατάσει τῆς προσευχῃς.  Εἴτε μετὰ ἀδελφῶν προσεύχῃ, εἴτε κατὰ μόνας, ἀγώνισαι, μὴ ἔθει, ἀλλὰ αἰσθήσει προσεύχεσθαι. Αἴσθησις ἐστὶ προσευχῆς σύννοια μετ' εὐλαβείας, καὶ κατανύξεως, καὶ ὀδύνης ψυχῆς ἐν εξαγορεύσει πταισμάτων μετὰ στεναγμῶν ἀφώνων.   ̓Εὰν περιβλέπηται ὁ νοῦς σου ἀκμὴν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς προσευχῆς, οὐδέπω ὡς μοναχὸς προσεύχεται, ἀλλ' ἔτι κοσμικός ἐστι, τὴν ἔξωθεν σκηνὴν καλλωπίζων. Εὐάγριος ὁ Ποντικός, Περι Προσευχῆς

In your prayer seek only righteousness and the kingdom, that is, virtue and knowledge, and everything else will be given to you. 1 It is right to pray not only for your own purification, but also for all your own kin, so as to imitate the angelic way. See if you truly stand before God in your prayer, or whether you have lost yourself to human praise and eagerly hunt for it, hiding behind the veil of prayer 2. Whether you pray with  brothers or alone, struggle to pray not in the customary way, but with perception. Perception in prayer is concentration, with reverence and compunction and distress of soul, in admission of  faults amid silent groans. If the mind is  looking around during the time of prayer, it is not yet praying as a monk, but it is still worldly, decorating the exterior tabernacle 3. Evagrius Ponticus, On Prayer 1 Mt 6:33 2 cf. Mt 23:5  3 cf. Mt 23:27

Praying Without Distraction

Εἶπε πάλιν· Ἀπελθὼν πώλησον σου τὰ ὑπάρχοντα, καὶ δὸς πτωχοίς· καὶ λαβὼν τὸν σταυρὸν, ἀπάρνησαι σεαυτόν· ἵνα δυνηθῇς ἀπερισπάστως προσεύχεσθαι.  ᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Again Father Nilus said, ' Go out and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and take up the cross and deny yourself; then you will be able to pray without distraction.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia