Fires ordinarily blaze in the open, but not so with prayer. Prayer is like a hidden fire whose effects are seen in our humanity and in God’s response. We are made for God, and thus there is nothing more human than prayer—that open stance in relation to the living God who has come to us in Jesus. However, on the basis of its hiddenness, we easily neglect prayer and settle for less when God wants to give us so much more of himself. The following story comes from the Desert Fathers (early