I DID not receive any responses to my thoughts on Prayer and the Christian life. However, I wrote an enlarged version and sent it to Boston College for publication. I have since had some thoughts based on replies from friends overseas.
From a Cistercian friend: He sees the life of prayer as a constant relation with God as companion, which seems to mean divine person and absolute love. So, the person praying struggles along with a growing consciousness of God as companion.
From a monk at Mount Athos (Greek): He sees a complimentary relation between liturgical practice and the Jesus Prayer. This prayer aims at filling (all of) life with a sense of God’s presence. Their liturgy is a robust celebration of He is here.
From a Carthusian: Their life is marked by a twofold sense that He is already here and yet we are not in heaven. Their liturgy moves between lamentation and joy and a monk once told me that the emotional centre of their life is ‘joyous sorrow’.
I find all these responses most interesting.