My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑ.
BE ALWAYS WITH ME AND IN ME (Part II)
By Saint John Kronstadt
Do not pay attention to the darkness, fire, and distress proceeding from the enemy during prayer, and steadfastly trust with all you heart in the very words of the prayer, being assured that the treasures of the Holy Spirit are concealed in them--that is, truth, light, life-giving, forgiveness of sins, expansion, peace and joy of the heart, and blessedness.
The great names: the Most Holy Trinity, or the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, called upon with lively, hearty faith and reverence, or thought of in the soul, are God Himself, and bring into our soul God Himself in Three Persons. But of God, "and through Him, and to Him, are all things" (Romans 11:36): therefore, if you are united to God the Trinity by lively faith and virtue, especially by meekness, humility, and mercy, ask of Him whatever you desire, whatever the Holy Spirit teaches you to ask, and it shall be given unto you, either quickly, in a moment, in an hour, or after some time, according to the judgment of God's great wisdom.
"Desire of Me and I shall give thee" (Psalm 2:8). Everything that you ask for is certainly less, infinitely less, than the Giver Himself, as it derives its existence from Him. And, as the Giver Himself is an infinite, incomplex Being, and can in some manner be comprised in one single thought of ours, in one single word, then believe that one single word of yours, one single petition concerning the fulfillment of anything, can at a sign from the Lord immediately become a thing of deed. "He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:9). Remember the wonders that Moses worked, remember how that man of God was a god to Pharaoh, and how instantaneously at his word, or at a movement of his hand, or of his staff, everything either changed or appeared. O Great God, Most Glorified God, God of Wonders, God of unspeakable mercy, bountifulness, and love to man, glory to Thee always, both now and forever, and unto ages of ages!
Spiritual pride manifests itself by the fact that a proud man dares to make himself a judge of religion and of the Church, and says: "I do not believe in this, and I do not acknowledge this; this I find superfluous, that unnecessary, and this strange or absurd." Spiritual pride also manifests itself in boastfulness, in the proud man's pretended knowledge of everything, whilst in reality he knows very little or his spiritual eyes are entirely blind. "That is not worth reading," he says: "it is all well-known; these sermons are not worth reading; they contain the one same thing which I already know." Human pride also manifests itself to a great extent when an ordinary mortal dares to compare himself with God's Saints, and does not see their great and wonderful perfections acquired by their own exploits, with the assistance of the grace of God; perfections which God Himself has crowned and glorified in them. Such a man says: "Why should I reverence them, and especially why should I pray to them? They are men like me; I pray to God alone." And he does not consider that God Himself commanded us to ask the prayers of the righteous for ourselves. "For him will I accept" (Job 42:8).
Spiritual pride also manifests itself by insensibility to our sins, by the Pharisee's self-justification and self-praise, by insensibility to God's mercies, by ingratitude to God for all that is good, by not feeling the need of praising God's greatness. All those who do not pray to the almighty God, "to the God of all spirits and of all flesh" (prayer from the Burial Service), to their Life, do not pray by the reason of their secret pride.
If, when praying to the Mother of God you do not find due reverence for Her in your heart, and feel evil and blasphemous thoughts, then say the following words of praise worthily applied to Her: "Thou, our Lady, art all Light, all Holiness, all Mercy, all Wisdom; Thou, as the Mother of the Almighty, canst do all things; Thou art ever one and the same, All-Perfect as the Mother of the All- Perfect King of Glory!"
Unbelief betrays itself by the fact that it has nothing in common with truth; an unbelieving heart is restless, anxious, weak, inconsistent, whilst a believing one is, on the contrary, tranquil, blissful, great, and firm.
When you pray to the Lord, or to our Lady, or to the Angels and Saints, do not ascribe any difficulty to the Lord, to our Lady, to the Angels and Saints, in fulfilling your petitions, or the petitions of other believers; instead, believe that it is as easy and simple for the Lord to give any blessing to His people, and equally so by the prayers of His Most Pure Mother and of the Angels and Saints as it is for you to think of it. Besides this, as God is ever-flowing, infinite goodness, He desires and ever seeks to impart His Goodness to His Creatures, if only they turn to him with faith, hope, and love, like children to their father, recognizing their sinfulness, poverty, need, blindness, and infirmity without Him.
When you pray to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit--to the One God in the Trinity--do not seek Him outside yourself, but contemplate Him within, as dwelling in you, entirely penetrating and knowing you. "Know ye not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (1 Corinthians 3:16). "And I will walk among you, and will be your God" (2 Corinthians 6:16, 18). "I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and will be a Father unto you" (Leviticus 26:12). "O Lord, Thou hast searched me out and known me" (Psalm 139:1), says David. (Source: Orthodox Heritage)
(To be continued)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George