Only the Holy Spirit Can Teach Us to Pray

Only the Holy Spirit, only the grace of God, can inspire the Jesus Prayer. It's not difficult to repeat the words, but you cannot pray it properly because your old fallen self rebuffs it. Unless you enter into the atmosphere of grace, you will not be able to say the prayer. As soon as you hear an offensive word are you grieved? And as soon as you hear something complimentary are you pleased? That shows that you are not ready, that you do not yet have what is required. For divine grce to come you must acquire the prerequisites: love and humility.