"Prayer and converse with God is a supreme good: it is a partnership and union with God. As the eyes of the body are enlightened when they see light, soo our spirit, when it is intent on God, is illumined by his infinite light. I do not mean the prayer of outward observance but prayer from the heart, not confined to fixed times or periods, but continuous throughout the day and night" (St. John Chrysostom).

I like when he said that prayer is a "partnership and union with God". Someone else said that prayer is heart speaking to heart. There is a difference in reciting prayers with the lips and in letting our heart speak to the heart of God. There is a special intimacy in the latter. When our day is drenched with this awareness and sharing with the love of our lives, then our union with God deepens. The heart yearns for this union and the Other becomes the all in all of our lives. Yes, this is the ideal. But just as union of love is the ideal in a marriage relationship, so union with God is the ideal of our relationship with God. And just as in marriage, one does not arrive at this ideal except after many  years of mutually striving for it, so too in our union with God. In both cases, it is the grace of God that makes the final difference.