“Play, for [psychotherapist] Winnicott, is a medium for the expression and elaboration of the true self–it is progressive, creative and developmental. Play can be the ‘work’ of psychotherapy. I believe it is also applicable to the ‘work’ of growing in interiority that is the task of contemplative monastics. We are at play with God when we are about the work of transformation. When we meditate or pray, for example, we are entering an area of potential space, transitional space. In this generative space created between God and us, we encounter God and God encounters us. We are no longer completely inside or outside ourselves, but in this space co-created by God and ourselves, a place to play, where we can be our truest self and pray.

“This potential space is not concrete, so it would be a misapplication to apply it to the cell, for example. We may indeed be able to co-create this space in our cell, and it may be a place of profound prayer. But this ground of encounter with God cannot be limited to a concrete place. It is, in fact, something that is part of our heart, here defined from a biblical and early Christian perspective. We take our heart with us wherever we go. In many ways the process of growing in interiority can be considered ‘heartwork’ that takes place i[n] solitude and in community. The potentiality of potential space means it can be co-created anywhere.”

Healey, Bede. “Psychological Investigations and Implications for Living Together Alone.” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002), page 126.

“We ought to pray and to plead as long as we live that God may hallow his name in us. All men are blasphemers of God’s name, some to a greater, others to a lesser degree, even though the arrogant saints refuse to believe this.”

Luther, Martin. “An Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer for Simple Laymen” (1519) Luther’s Works Vol. 42. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969), page 33.

“Therefore, take note that a prayer is not good and right because of its length, devoutness, sweetness, or its plea for temporal or eternal goods. Only that prayer is acceptable which breathes a firm confidence and trust that it will be heard (no matter how small or unworthy it may be in itself) because of the reliable pledge and promise of God. Not your zeal but God’s Word and promise render your prayer good.”

Luther, Martin. “An Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer for Simple Laymen” (1519) Luther’s Works Vol. 42. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969), page 77.

“To sum up, in prayer there is the danger of falling into one of two opposite extremes. The first is ‘mythologizing’ (or making into an idol) the external forms, when prayer is reduced to the mechanical following of a rule or a method of praying. The second is the rejection of and allergic reaction toward all forms of prayer and asceticism. Those fall into this sad situation who do not know how to combine the external forms with sincerity of heart.”

Augustine Ichiro Okumura. Awakening to Prayer. Translated by Theresa Kazue Hiraki and Albert Masaru Yamato. (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1994), p. 52.