Chapter 19: Our approach to prayer

All of us, then, should reflect seriously on how to appear before the majesty of God in the presence of his angels. That will lead us to make sure that, when we sing in choir, there is complete harmony between the thoughts in our mind and the meaning of the words we sing. (From Ch. 19 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

I can be fragmented in thoughts, unconscious of my physical presence, and mesmerized by emotions. But Benedict's instructions for communal prayer ring true for me. And in the same way, my interior practice of the mantra is like a harmonic that will guide me towards wholeness in the presence of God.