Augustine on prayer

Augustine wrote many letters. In one of his letters written to a widow, which was a long letter. Augustine carefully and with great wisdom responds to her questions. He says to the widow,

Why the One who knows what we need before we ask Him should urge us to ask and
seek and knock may puzzle us.

We realize that our Lord and God does not want us to let Him know what we want, since he cannot be ignorant of that. What He wants for us is to exercise our desire in our prayers so that we are capable of receiving what He is preparing to give us. His is a great gift, and we are little and limited in our ability to receive.

He tells us to widen our hearts. Our ability to receive His great gift, which eye has not seen, since it has no color, nor ear heard, since it has no sound, and which has no arisen in a human heart, since the human heart has to rise up to it, will grow in proportion as we believe more trustfully, hope more firmly, and desire more ardently.

So we are to pray not because God does not know what we are going to ask, but so that our heart
be prepared to receive the gift that He will give to us.

Another occasion Augustine prayed like this:

O God, you are the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you; help us so to know you that we may truly love you, so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From Dr. Calhoun's Church history lecture on Augustine