Prayers/John Cassian
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Intro and Background
John Cassian (c. 360-435)
- a monk during time of the desert fathers. He learned about solitude from Evagrius and others in the Egyptian desert.
- He taught in his Institutes and Conferences that mediation should consist in the repetition of a verse from Scripture (see Breath Prayers),
"folding the recollection of God into the little space of meditation on one verse."[1]
See more quotes by John Cassian here.
Cassian's Breath Prayer (Psalm 70:1)
“O God, incline unto my aid; O Lord, make haste to help me."
- In the most frequently quoted excerpt from his Conferences, Cassian raises up a prayer formula using Psalm 70:1 as a verse to facilitate unceasing prayer of the heart
- In an unexpected and surprising way, this verse from Psalm 70 comes to appear in the Liturgy of the Hours, as a preamble verse to Morning, Daytime, and Evening Prayer.
- Over the centuries, this simple verse from the Psalms has carried an entire prayer tradition, rooted in the spirituality of the desert. Cassian's elucidation of this verse reminds us how a formative reading of Scripture is integrally bound to the soul's progress in prayer.[2]
John Cassian's Prayer
“O God, be all my love,
all my hope,
all my striving;
let my thoughts and word flow from you,
my daily life be in you,
and every breath I take be for you.
Amen."[3]
Adapted from Conferences 10