Good question, Anthony! I\'ve asked the same thing of my spiritual father, and his answer would be much like the advice given by Bishop Ignatius in his book \"The Arena\" (subtitled \"An Offering to Contemporary Monasticism\"). This is one of many practical questions he addresses in regards to prayer, so here\'s a portion of his answer from Ch. 19, \"On Attention at Prayer\":
\"The rapt attention which keeps prayer completely free from irrelevant thoughts and images is a gift of God\'s grace. We evince a sincere desire to receive the gift of grace - the soul-saving gift of attention - by forcing ourselves to pray with attention whenever we pray. Artificial attention, as we may call our own unaided attention unassisted by grace, consists in enclosing our mind in the words of the prayer, according to the advice of St. John of the Ladder. If the mind, on account of its newness to the work of prayer, gets out of its enclosure in the words, it must be led back into them again. The mind in its fallen state is naturally unstable and inclined to wander everywhere. But God can give it stability and will do so in His own time in return for perseverance and patience in the practice of prayer.
\"Specially helpful in holding the attention during prayer is an extremely unhurried pronunciation of the words of the prayer. Pronounce the words without hurrying so that the mind may quite easily stay enclosed in the words of the prayer, and not slip away from a single word. Say the words in an audible voice when you pray alone; this also helps to hold the attention...\"
\"...At first we must force ourselves to pray. Soon prayer begins to afford consolation, and this consolation lightens the coercion and encourages us to force ourselves. But we need to force ourselves to pray throughout our life, and few indeed are the ascetics who, on account of the abundant consolation of grace, never need to force themselves.\"
When I\'ve taken the time and careful discipline to apply this advice, it\'s been invaluable. Lord have mercy upon me! but I don\'t always pay heed to it. Hopefully we all join you, Anthony, in sincerely asking the same question and then embracing the answers given by our wise and God-bearing Fathers.
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