You wish to learn something about prayer. What could I tell you that you do not already know?
When one draws near to the
Lord, one immediately feels the need to pray. Church hymns and prayer books
help with this. However, as one prays, one realizes that one’s prayer is
disrupted and various thoughts occupy the soul. Then a struggle is required.
The more one struggles to
keep the mind focused, the purer the prayer becomes. The spiritual atmosphere
is not completely purified unless the spiritual flame is kindled. This is a
gift of divine Grace. When it is kindled, the incessant chatter of thoughts
ceases. What happens to the soul is the same as what happened to the woman with
the issue of blood as soon as she touched the Lord’s garment: “Her flow of
blood ceased” (Luke 8:44). In this state, prayer tends to become uninterrupted,
unceasing. Here, the prayer of Jesus is practiced systematically, the
continuous repetition of “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”
This is as far as one can go through one’s own effort. From here on, divine
Grace intervenes more decisively.
Prayer is given by God and
does not flow from the person’s mental disposition. The spirit of prayer enters
within him and fills the innermost part of his heart. The soul then pours forth
the prayer of its own accord. It is under the influence of the spirit of
prayer. Here there are two stages:
In the first, the soul feels
and discerns everything. It looks around, senses its condition, controls
itself, and can even interrupt the visitation of the grace of the spirit of
prayer.
In the second stage, as the
Holy Fathers teach, and especially St. Isaac the Syrian, we have a completely
different state. It is characterized as ecstasy or rapture. The soul,
intoxicated by Divine Grace, ceases to perceive earthly and sensory things. It
is unable to control itself or influence the state in which it finds itself.
The patristic texts mention
that someone began praying at night, fell into this state, and came to in the
morning. For some, this state was accompanied by a glow on the face or a
radiance around them. For others, by levitation above the ground. The Apostle
Paul, in this state, “ascended to the third heaven.” And the holy prophets
conveyed God’s will in this manner. Marvel at the Lord’s mercy. One exerts a
little effort, and to what heights one is deemed worthy to ascend! That is why
we must encourage every brother: “Strive, it is worth the effort!”
“Never pray hastily. Pray
with the mind and heart fully engaged in the meaning of the prayer. Prepare
yourself before prayer by gathering your thoughts and striving with focused
attention to stand before the Lord. A basic prerequisite for good prayer is
repentance. We are all sinners, and God “will not despise a broken spirit, a
broken and contrite heart.” In every prayer, remember the sins you have
committed.
What am I trying to achieve
through prayer? To warm the heart with love for God and to keep the sense of
God’s presence alive. The Lord’s Prayer helps greatly in this: “Lord Jesus
Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Say this prayer often, until your tongue
becomes accustomed to repeating it on its own. To make progress in prayer, one
must strive to adorn one’s heart with all the virtues. Above all, with
humility, repentance, and self-denial. God sees everything and hears
everything. He knows all our secrets. That is why we must cleanse every stain
from ourselves. And whenever something impure comes to our mind or heart, let
us immediately cast it aside and immediately turn to prayer.”
Every turning of the mind
and heart toward God is true prayer. If, while you are working, you remember
God, that constitutes prayer. St. Basil asks the question: “How could the
apostles pray without ceasing?” And he gives the answer: “In all their
activities, their thoughts were on God, and they lived constantly devoted to
Him. This inner disposition of theirs constituted unceasing prayer.”
You who live in the world
must, on the one hand, remove every sinful thought from your heart and, on the
other hand, dedicate all your activities to God. This reference to God transforms
every action into prayer. The Holy Scriptures state that the blood of Abel
cries out to God. In a similar way, deeds dedicated to God cry out to Him.
Once, they offered a monk
some fine food. As soon as he took it, he said:
– “How awful it smells…”
They asked him:
– “How is that possible?”
And he explained to them
that it had been sent by a person without a good disposition or a good life.
Every deed is imbued with
the feelings with which it is performed. Those who have a pure heart can sense
this. Just as flowers give off a fragrance, so do deeds done with good
intentions. The fragrance of good deeds rises to heaven, just like incense.
Your trials have not ceased.
Do you think God allows this in vain? He allows it because He loves you.
Through your trials, He purifies you, making you shine like a diamond in the
sun. He even smooths the path for you to the Kingdom of Heaven. The chariot by
which one arrives there is patience. And patience can only be acquired through
trials. “That is precisely why they are sent.”
“May the Lord bless your
efforts toward unceasing prayer. It is an unbreakable spiritual law that God
grants us whatever beneficial thing we ask of Him. Divine help is always ready
to be given to us and is always near us. But we must ask for it. It is granted
to us in abundance when there is no help to be found anywhere else and we turn
to the Lord with all our hearts.
But as long as we rely
proudly on our own human strength, the Lord does not intervene. It is as if He
were saying:
– “You hope to succeed on
your own. You believe in the idol of your own self. So wait…”
May the Lord grant us “a
contrite spirit, a broken and humbled heart” (Ps. 50:19), so that we may always
take refuge in Him.”
“The quality and quantity of
our prayer reveal the state of our relationship with God and the level of our
spiritual life. That is why we see saints beginning their prayer at sunset and
continuing it all night long, until sunrise and even beyond. Their prayer lifts
them up to the heavenly Father and the saints, who comfort and gladden them.”
“You desire to know mental
prayer. You desire a good and wonderful work! However, it is difficult for
anyone to progress in the prayer of Jesus unless they are accustomed to
concentrating generally in every prayer. So follow this method: Focus your
attention on the words and meanings of certain psalms or other short prayers
that suit your inner state. Repeat them often with deep feeling, and
intersperse the Jesus Prayer among them. Later, add invocations to the Most
Holy Theotokos and the saints, as well as prayers for the living and the dead.”
“The prayer ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me’ is a powerful and
effective weapon. And this is because the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is
feared by the enemies of our salvation and blessed by the saints.”
“True prayer is a divine
gift. Pray fervently to God to grant it to you. Coldness in prayer is the
result of judgment, anger, and rage, worldly interests and preoccupations,
carnal gratifications and pleasures… Guard yourselves against all these things,
and it will subside.”
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