They certainly qualify as a power couple. Anicia Fortunia Proba was born in AD 357 into an aristocratic family in Rome and married Sextus Probus, a high-ranking Roman proconsul. Together, they became the wealthiest family in the Roman Empire. They also were won to Christ during their early life together and hosted Augustine of Hippo, the renowned bishop from North Africa, when he visited Rome. Proba became a widow at a young age and fled to North Africa with her daughter-in-law Juliana and her granddaughter Demetrius when Rome was sacked in 410. Proba joined a community of Christian women and gave away most of her vast fortune to support the church. She wrote to Augustine, asking him for guidance on how to pray. Augustine responded with a long letter in 412. He cleared up a question I’ve always had about the practicality of Paul’s admonition to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5.17). Augustine interpreted “pray without ceasing” as “desire without intermission” and then added, “to spend a long time in prayer is not, as some think, the same thing as to pray with much speaking.” A “superfluity of words” isn’t required. What we must foster is a continual desire for God. What, then, do we pray for? We pray for a happy life the way most people do. Yet if our greatest joy and supreme happiness are found only in God, worldly substitutes cannot possibly fill the void. A happy life, in the end, is knowing and loving God. We close with a memorable quote from Augustine, “To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him is the greatest achievement.”
Augustine leads us to pray:
Augustine of Hippo
Lord Jesus, our Savior, let us come to you. Our hearts are cold;
Lord, warm them with your selfless love.
Our hearts are sinful;
cleanse them with your precious blood.
Our hearts are weak;
strengthen them with your divine presence.
Our hearts are empty;
fill them with your divine presence.
Lord Jesus, our hearts are yours;
possess them always and only for yourself.
Amen.
Geoffrey Dunn, “The Christian Networks of the Aniciae: The Example of the Letter of Innocent I to Anicia Juliana.”
Tim Keller, “Saint Augustine on Prayer.”
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.