Your ‘Hearts up!’ coaches
You’re not doing this alone.
You have coaches - ancient Christian Practice trainers - who’ve been guiding souls for centuries on the practice of lifting hearts to God.
Gym members meet them at Coffee with Coaches live on Wednesdays at 3:30pm Eastern.
Subscribe to Free Range Priest - and follow the directions in your welcome email - to get Trexo posts in your email inbox, and join us for Hearts up! - the oldest practice of Christian worship.
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I’d like to introduce you to two of them with particular connection to the Hearts up! Practice:
1. St. Cyprian of Carthage
‘This Is Spiritual Warfare’
Who he was:
Bishop of Carthage (North Africa), 3rd century (d. 258 AD). Led Christians through devastating plague, persecution, and martyrdom. Wealthy convert who sold everything for the poor, rose quickly to bishop. Wrote extensively on prayer, unity of the church, and facing trials.
His key teaching on the Sursum Corda (from On the Lord’s Prayer, Chapter 31):
For this reason also the priest, by way of preface before his prayer, prepares the minds of the brethren by saying, ‘Lift up your hearts,’ that so upon the people’s response, ‘We lift them up unto the Lord,’ he may be reminded that he himself ought to think of nothing but the Lord.
Let the breast be closed against the adversary, and be open to God alone; nor let it suffer God’s enemy to approach to it at the time of prayer. For frequently he steals upon us, and penetrates within, and by crafty deceit calls away our prayers from God, that we may have one thing in our heart and another in our voice.
Cyprian’s understanding of Hearts up!
The Sursum Corda is not gentle suggestion - it’s active resistance against spiritual attack.
The devil is ‘constantly prowling’ during prayer, trying to induce distraction.
We must have ‘one thing in our heart’ matching ‘one thing in our voice’ - simple intention
The priest says it to prepare our minds - it’s deliberate spiritual positioning.
Cyprian’s coaching for you
You think you’re just distracted? You’re under attack.
‘Hearts Up!’ is your defense.
When the priest says “Lift up your hearts” at Eucharist, he’s positioning the whole community for spiritual warfare. He’s saying: ‘Close your soul to the enemy. Open it only to God.’
This is why you say it constantly at Trexo:
Morning: Hearts up! = I’m setting my intentions for the day.
When anxious: Hearts up! = I’m closing the breach against intruding and unkind thoughts;
In a moment of beauty: Hearts up! = I’m fixing my mind on heavenly things.
Before decisions: Hearts up! = I’m ensuring that God is at the center of my contemplation.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, 4th century bishop, theologian, and doctor of the church
Who he was:
a 4th-century bishop, theologian, and Doctor of the Church known for his Catechetical Lectures, which detailed baptismal and Lenten practices. As Bishop of Jerusalem (c. 350–386), he was a major figure in defending Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism, resulting in multiple exiles, and is revered by Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions
Cyril’s teaching on the Sursum Corda:
In his fifth mystagogical instruction, provides a detailed analysis of the dialogue within the context of the “most awesome hour” of the Eucharist. Cyril’s approach is characterized by a high degree of liturgical realism and a sense of sacred dread (which for him, in his time, would be like awe for us).
Cyril explains that “at that most awesome hour we must indeed raise our hearts high to God, not keep them intent on the earth and on earthly matters“.
Cyril’s coaching for you:
He interprets the priest’s command as a virtual order to “lay aside the cares of this life, your domestic worries, and to keep your heart in heaven on God who loves men”.
The congregational response is seen as a formal “avowal” or agreement to this heavenly ascent.
Cyril warns his hearers that it is dangerous to say the words “We lift them up to the Lord” while the mind is actually “concerned with the cares of this life”.
Cyril’s counsel:
We are entering into a holy covenant with God when we lift up our hearts. Take it seriously - this is of the upmost importance to our lives.
Common Struggles & Solutions
As you practice Hearts up!, you’re learning something new. Your soul is stretching in ways it hasn’t before.
This is normal. Here’s how to work through the most common struggles.
What if it feels awkward or forced?
That’s normal. You’re learning a new language. Your soul is stretching.
Remember:
Billions of Christians have said this for 2,000 years. You’re joining them.
Physical exercise feels awkward at first too. Keep practicing.
The Early Church understood: this is training, not natural instinct.
What if I don’t feel anything when I say it?
Good News: You Don’t Have To
This isn’t about feeling. It’s about orientation. It’s about where you’re pointing yourself, not what emotion you generate.
St. Cyprian would say: The enemy wants you to think it’s not working because you don’t ‘feel’ anything. That’s the distraction.
How does this connect to Eucharist if I don’t go to church regularly?
The daily practice you’re doing alone is preparing you for the communal practice you do with the church.
Even if you never participate - or never go to church! - you’re participating in the basic, required orientation towards God for those who do. You’re still part of the community.
When/if you do gather for Eucharist, you’ll recognize:
‘This is exactly what I’ve been practicing every day.’
Many church-goers say: ‘We lift our hearts to the Lord’ at every Eucharist without realizing they are participating in one of the earliest communal prayers of the Christian faith.
You’re widening the circle of the liturgy (worship, praise, devotion) from the Eucharist out into the world.
The Complete Hearts up! Practice:
You were made for more.
More peace, more direction, more grounding, more purpose. More JOY.
Get started stretching and strengthening your soul.
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