More On Prayer

"First, when I feel that I have become cool and joyless in prayer because of other tasks or thoughts (for the flesh and the devil always impede and obstruct prayer), I take my little psalter, hurry to my room, or, if it be the day and hour for it, to the church where a congregation is assembled and, as time permits, I say quietly to myself and word-for-word the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and, if I have time, some words of Christ or of Paul, or some psalms, just as a child might do."

from "A Simple Way to Pray, For a Good Friend, Peter, the Master Barber" by Martin Luther, 1535.

On Prayer

Thus if anything is to be done well, it requires the full attention of all one's senses and members, as the proverb says, 'The one who thinks of many things, thinks of nothing and does nothing right.' How much more does prayer call for concentration and singleness of heart if it is to be a good prayer!

Luther, "How One Should Pray, for Peter, the Master Barber", 1535