Chapter 20: The ideal of true reverence in prayer

When we come, then, with our requests in prayer before the Lord, who is God of all creation, is it not all the more important that we should approach him in a spirit of real humility and a devotion that is open to him alone and free from distracting thoughts? We really must  be quite clear that our prayer will be heard, not because of the eloquence and length of all we have to say, but because of the heartfelt repentance and openness of our hearts to the Lord whom we approach. (From Ch. 20 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

For some time I was confused about the purpose of intercessory prayer because it seemed "inferior" to meditation. But gradually I came to realize that my "requests in prayer before the Lord" actually benefit from meditation, because as a fruit of meditation,  my "requests" become less controlling, more compassionate and communal. And here, although Benedict seems to me to recognize the very human urge to use prayer as a way of asking God for something, in fact I see him leading his monks through their intercessory prayer, to repentance (humility) and openness of heart, free from distracting thoughts. Such a disposition seems to me to be the poverty of spirit of the mantra, the poverty of spirit necessary to realize the presence of God.