CAPUT XV.
Prayer Without Boundaries
God is everywhere present, so prayer and confession may be offered in any place, as the Psalms attest.
Even in other suitable places, if someone is far from the church, prayer to God and confession of sins can and should be offered. Just as there are some who neglect to come often to the church doors for the sake of prayer, so on the contrary there are many who, because they can't go to the churches and don't have the relics of the saints at hand, therefore fail to pour out their prayers to the Lord with humble devotion as they ought, not realizing that God is no less in a part than in the whole, but is everywhere entire, everywhere present, everywhere wonderful. Hence the Psalmist says: "Where shall I go from your Spirit, and where shall I flee from your face?" "If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I go down into hell, you are present" (Ps. 138:7).1 "In every place of his dominion, bless the Lord, O my soul" (Ps. 102:22).
Prayer Toward the Holy Place
Solomon's dedication prayer and Daniel's example show that even when far from the temple, God hears prayers offered with contrite hearts toward His chosen dwelling.
So we read in the Book of Kings: "If your people go out to war against their enemies along the road on which you send them, they will worship you facing toward the way where this city is that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name; you will hear from heaven their prayers and their entreaty, and you will avenge them."2 But if they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you grow angry with them and hand them over to their enemies, and those enemies take them captive to a distant land, or even one nearby, and they turn in their heart in the land to which they have been led captive, repent, and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted unjustly,' and they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they have been led, they will worship you facing toward their own land, which you gave to their fathers, and toward the city you have chosen, and the house I have built for your name—you will hear from heaven, that is, from your firm dwelling place, their prayers, and you will do justice for them (1 Kings34 8:44 and following , and 2 Chronicles5 6:34 and following).✦ . And in the book of Daniel: When Daniel learned of it—that is, that the law had been enacted—he went into his house, and with the windows open in the upper room facing Jerusalem, he knelt three times a day and worshiped and confessed before his God, just as he had also been in the habit of doing before (Dan.✦6 6:10).✦
Constant Prayer in Word and Deed
Paul urges prayer in every place with pure hands, and Jerome counsels that prayer should mark every action and movement of daily life.
The Apostle also says: So I want the men to pray in every place, lifting up pure hands without anger or argument (1 Tim.✦ 2:8).✦ Jerome says to Eustochium: "When you leave the house, let prayer be your armor; when you return from the street, let prayer meet you before you sit down; don't let your body rest until your soul has been fed; and with every action and every step, let your hand mark the cross." "
Read the original Latin
Quod et in aliis competentibus locis, si locis basilicae procul fuerit, oratio ad Deum et confessio peccatorum fieri possit et debeat.
Sicut sunt nonnulli, qui orandi gratia ecclesiae limina frequentare negligunt, ita e contrario existunt plerique, qui pro eo quod basilicas adire nequeunt, et reliquias sanctorum praesto non habent, idcirco vota precum suarum ad Dominum, ut oportet, supplici devotione non fundunt, non animadvertentes quod Deus non sit minus in parte quam in toto, sed ubique totus, ubique praesens, ubique mirabilis. Unde ait Psalmista: Quo ibo a spiritu tuo, et quo a facie tua fugiam? Si ascendero in coelum, tu illic es; si descendero in infernum, ades (Psal. CXXXVIII, 7) . In omni loco dominationis ejus, benedic, anima mea, Domino (Psal. CII, 22) . Legitur itaque in libro Regum: Si egressus fuerit populus tuus ad bellum contra adversarios suos, per viam in qua miseris eos, adorabunt te contra viam in qua civitas haec est quam elegisti, et domus quam aedificavi nomini tuo, tu exaudies de coelo preces eorum, et obsecrationem, et ulcisceris. Si autem peccaverint tibi (neque enim est homo qui non peccet) et iratus fueris eis, et tradideris hostibus, et captivos duxerint eos in terram longinquam, vel certe quae juxta est, et conversi in corde suo in terra ad quam captivi ducti fuerint, egerint poenitentiam, et deprecati te fuerint in terra captivitatis suae, dicentes: Peccavimus, inique fecimus, injuste egimus, et reversi fuerint ad te in toto corde suo, et in tota anima sua, in terra captivitatis suae, ad quam ducti sunt, adorabunt te contra viam terrae suae, quam dedisti patribus eorum, et urbis quam elegisti, et domus quam aedificavi nomini tuo, tu exaudies de coelo, hoc est, de firmo habitaculo tuo preces eorum, et facies judicium eorum (III Reg.
VIII, 44 seq. , et II Par. VI, 34 seq.) . Et in libro Daniel: Quod cum Daniel comperisset, id est, constitutam legem, ingressus in domum suam, et fenestris apertis in coenaculo contra Hierusalem, tribus temporibus in die flectebat genua, et adorabat, confitebaturque coram Deo suo, sicut et ante facere consueverat (Dan. VI, 10) . Apostolus quoque ait: Volo ergo viros orare in omni loco, levantes puras manus sine ira et disceptatione (I Tim. II, 8) .
Hieronymus ad Eustochium: « Egredientes hospitium armet oratio: regredientibus de platea oratio occurrat antequam sessio; nec prius corpusculum requiescat, quam anima pascatur; ad omnem actum, ad omnem incessum manus pingat crucem. »
Scripture echoes
- ↩2Chr.6.34 — When your people go out to battle against their enemies, by the way that you send them, and they pray toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,
- ↩Dan.6.10 — When Daniel knew that the decree had been signed, he went to his house, where he prayed — three times a day, kneeling, giving thanks before his God, as he had always done.
- ↩Dan.6.10 — When Daniel knew that the decree had been signed, he went to his house, where he prayed — three times a day, kneeling, giving thanks before his God, as he had always done.
- ↩1Tim.2.8 — I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or disputing.
- ↩1Tim.2.8 — I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or disputing.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source cites Ps CXXXVIII, 7, but the quoted lines span Ps 138:7–8 (Vulg.); later stage should resolve verse range and numbering.
- 2 ↩"contra viam" rendered "facing toward the way," matching the directional force of the temple-prayer idiom (toward the city/house), not opposition.
- 3 ↩"egerint poenitentiam" rendered "repent" for modern readability; the Latin also carries the sense of doing penance.
- 4 ↩Citation opens as "(III Reg." and continues in the next section; English keeps the incomplete parenthetical book label as "(1 Kings" to mirror the fragmented source unit.
- 5 ↩II Par. = II Paralipomenon, the Vulgate name for 2 Chronicles.
- 6 ↩confitebaturque can mean ‘confessed’ or ‘gave thanks/praise’; rendered ‘confessed’ to keep the Vulgate surface while the context is prayerful acknowledgment before God.
On the Institution of a King (De institutione regia) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit