The Word of the Day is “always.”  In today’s reading of 1 Thessalonians 5:14-23, we find the teaching “pray without ceasing” (OSB vs. 5:17).  Today we will study the context of this short directive, a teaching that many Orthodox know and strive to practice. Note that the two-word imperative comes in the middle of Paul’s concluding instructions to his congregation in Thessalonica.  Notice also that it appears in a series of practices that the faithful should always carry out.  The apostle writes, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks” (OSB vs. 16-18).  The first and the last imperatives are a frame for the ideal of praying without ceasing.  These bookends encourage the attitudes with which we should enter…