Matta el-Meskeen
1919-2006 20th century
Prayer as God's work in us before it is our effort: stepping into a labor already begun.
Who was Matta el-Meskeen?
A prosperous Cairo pharmacist, in 1948 he sold his two pharmacies, gave everything to the poor and left for the desert. As spiritual father of the monastery of Saint Macarius in Wadi Natrun, he raised it from ruin: a handful of aged monks when he arrived, more than a hundred at his death. Half a century of solitude fed dozens of books on prayer, translated far beyond the Coptic Church; he died in 2006, having scarcely left his desert in fifty-eight years.
In their own words
Let him who does not pray expect nothing whatsoever from God, neither salvation nor renewal, nor direction, nor grace; he is consigned to the whims of his own mind, the will of his own ego, and the direction of his own thinking.
Through hallowing the name of God, paying homage to him, thanking and honoring him with pure praise, man is transformed into a spiritual being; he joins the heavenly host in their transcendent ministry.
God in his graciousness has come down to our level and promised to listen to our prayers when we bring him our needs and complaints. He thus assures us that he will never abandon us for our sins and that our tribulations are a matter of concern to him.