On Prayer 8.2

I think that benefit comes in many ways to one who prays as he ought, or who strives for this as far as he can. First of all, the one who has directed his mind to prayer certainly gains something from the very disposition of prayer, by presenting himself to God and speaking to him as present, having composed himself as before one who watches and is present. For just as certain images and memories of certain things defile the thoughts in which these images have arisen, in the same way we must be persuaded that the remembrance of God in whom we have believed, who perceives the movements in the sanctuary of the soul, is beneficial, as the soul orders itself to please him as one present, watching, and reaching before every thought, who tests “hearts” and searches “the inward parts.” For even supposing that no other benefit came to one who has set his reasoning toward prayer, one must think that it is no ordinary gain for him to have ordered himself so reverently at the time of prayer. And when this happens often, those who have given themselves more constantly to prayer know by experience from how many sins it keeps them and to how many good deeds it leads them. For if the remembrance and recollection of a man of repute who has made progress in wisdom calls us to imitate him and often checks our impulses toward the worse, how much more does the remembrance of God, the Father of all, together with prayer to him, benefit those who have persuaded themselves that they stand before, and speak to, a God who is present and hears?