We have seen how words, although they give form to prayer and are an aid to it, do not in themselves constitute prayer. "Do not ever forget", St. Theophan says, "that the essence of prayer is the raising of the heart and mind to God... If the mind becomes exhausted by saying the words of the prayer, then pray without words, bowing down before the Lord inwardly in your heart and giving yourself to Him. This is true prayer. Words are only prayer's expression and are always weaker in God's eyes than prayer itself."
There is a time for words and a time for wordlessness. When your mind is stationed at attention and your heart is aware in spiritual prayer, you will know when to speak (either mentally or vocally) and when to be silent. Again St. Theophan writes: "Prayer may consist only in a standing before God, in an opening of the heart to Him in reverence and love. It is a state of being irresistibly drawn within to stand before God in prayer; or it is a visitation of the spirit in prayer... In purely contemplative prayer, words and thoughts disappear, not by our own wish, but of their own accord... Feeling towards God- even without words- is a prayer."
(From "Christ the Eternal Tao" By Heiromonk Damascene)
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