The meaning and even more the feasibility of Saint Paul’s exhortation: “Pray unceasingly” (1 Th 5:17) is a real puzzle for Christians of all times. Early Fathers of the Church, like Origen, the Desert Fathers, John Chrysostom, Augustine, etc. tried to interpret its true meaning, while at the same time showing its feasibility. Ultimately, such an exhortation raises the question about the essence of Christian prayer which in the Pauline exhortation should pervade the whole of Christian life.
Fabio Giardini has embarked on the analysis of the elements, forms, acts, grades, and eventually the habitual innermost attitude which make up the Christian prayerlife. He presents an attitude which makes up the Christian prayerlife. He presents a Psychology of prayer watermarked with the God in which Christians believe: a God in three Persons, who is present, i.e. at one and the same time immanent and transcendent to those who worship and commune with him. This is the genuine Spiritual Theology. Indeed Christian prayerlife itself is a psycho-theological reality. His analysis is performed according to a logical succession from the general component elements: body, soul, and spirit, to the major forms or trends of prayer, each one comprehending many acts and grades, and finally to the all-pervading prayerfulness issuing from all the aspects previously analysed. The comprehensive outcome of this enterprise is a systematic essay on Christian prayerlife.
Fabio Giardini is a Professor of Spiritual Theology at the Pontifical University of St Thomas in Urbe (PUST). He is a contributor to many magazines in his field of specialization: Rivista di Ascetica e Mistica, Angelicum, Sacra Doctrina, Sapienza, Euntes Docete, Dominican Ashram. Among his publications in English are Loving Awareness of God’s Presence in Prayer (1978), Prayerfulness (1984), Christian and Humanistic Counseling (1997).
