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.
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PRAYER AS AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF SPIRITUAL LIFE
By Monk Moses
Contrition and Compunction in Prayer
According to the same Holy Father, Saint John, who authored the famous spiritual book, The Ladder (Climacus), true prayer is both mother and daughter of tears. Contrition and compunction are their regular companions. Compunctious prayer is based on an attentive life attentive to the ever-presence of God in our life, to the purity of our heart, to the genuine humility of our spirit, and to the mystery of death which we must ever remember and contemplate. As it is impossible for fire and water to live together, it is similarly impossible to mix compunction with a life of luxury. And if we could only direct our awareness to the many salutary interventions of God in our life, our eyes would fill with tears of joy for His abundant blessings. Orthodox Christian hymnology is replete with such sweet tears of gratitude combined with tears of compunction, which in ascetic terminology refer to harmolyp (joyful sadness).
Should our prayers be favored with such tears, let us be careful not to lose this blessing because of pride. Mark the Ascetic informs us that with these tears Christ has visited us and has opened our eyes. The memory of our sins in general and not necessarily specific sins is sufficient for compunction. Saint Varsanouphios says that compunction will come when we tame our will such that we are able to abandon our non-spiritual rights and our love for worldly popularity. It is important to distinguish true compunction from the tears of superficiality, vanity, and sentimentality. And we must be careful. Compunction can be wiped out by a careless tongue.
Unceasing Prayer of the Heart
The present author is insufficiently prepared for an adequate discussion of the next stage in this topic the unceasing, spiritual prayer of the heart, marked by a single unwavering thought otherwise known as the Jesus Prayer. The topic of spiritual sobriety and vigilance, spiritual contemplation and action is very advanced and extremely difficult. I shall limit my efforts to the mentioning of a few applicable comments found in the inexhaustible treasury of the Holy Fathers of the Church.
Saint John of the Ladder (Climacus) instructs that if the mind wants to pray united with the heart and is unable to achieve this, then the prayer should be said with the mouth, while the mind holds and attends to the words of the prayer. In the time the Lord will bless us with the prayer of the heart when we will be able to prayer without constraints and distracting imaginations. This charisma (gift) is given, as are all charismata (gifts), to the simple and humble soul, in accordance with the austere and precise spiritual order. To the one who is simple, humble and temperate in all things, Christ Himself will bestow the prayer of the heart.
The so-called Jesus Prayer is simply the repetition of the phrase: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner." There are some minor variations in the wording. The power of this prayer is unlimited. The very name of Jesus banishes the demons, as Saint Anthony the Great tells us. This prayer and the name of Jesus is repeated by many saints. Saint John Chrysostomos says that the acquisition of the prayer of the heart is not a matter of one or two days, but involves much time and effort, until the enemy (Satan), is banished and Christ comes to dwell in our heart. According to Saint Neilos the Ascetic, the best defense against the enemies is the name of Jesus. And who are the enemies? Burning desires, sinful delights, diabolical schemes and the like. As to how to say the Jesus Prayer properly we have instructions in the book called Philokalia.
The unceasing prayer comes from great love (agape). It is not of course when one becomes inattentive, idle and critical. Our love for God cannot be impeded by the work we do. The Person of God, no matter what he or she is doing, can have a constant remembrance of God, a constant doxology (praise), a constant thanksgiving. God loves us all, but He loves even more those who love Him. Our prayer reveals the measure of our love for Him. The infinite love of God for man has provided for prayer, so that, at any moment one so desires and all the days of his life, one can have conversation with God. All the Saints kept their life of prayer unceasing.
Abba (Father) Poimen, the great Father of discernment (diakrisis), says that there are three most useful principles: fear of God, unceasing prayer, and love for our neighbor. The disciple of Abba (Father) Vessarion, Abba (Father) Doulas, mentions in the gerontikon that he found his elder praying continuously with his arms raised for fourteen days. Only after he lowered his arms did the disciple disturb his elder (geronda). Saint Basil the Great says that unceasing prayer means to so unite yourself with God, through the manner of your whole life, that your very life becomes an unceasing prayer. Abba (Father) Isaac says that unless the grace of the Holy Spirit abides in our heart, perfection in this prayer cannot be attained. When the Holy Spirit dwells in our heart, prayer is not interrupted even when we sleep. And Niketas Stathatos calls this unceasing prayer a spiritual reflection, a remembrance of God with persistent contrition.
One of the elders (gerondes) of Mt. Athos related to us that he had received a letter from a simple woman in which, among other things, she wrote:
"Father, I am a widow with two children and am working to raise them, etc. Please pray for me because I do not have enough time and I pray only eight hours."
Yes, you read correctly, eight hours, and she did not consider it enough! Apparently, she was practicing the spiritual prayer. The person who is dedicated to God does not measure, does not calculate, does not give in order to receive. He or she offers themselves completely to God and God gives himself completely in return.
Concluding Remarks on Prayer
Dear friends, let our prayer be regular, but not out of custom and duty; let it be with program, but not for the sake of the program. In this way, our prayer can be expected to have sweet warmth and inspirational variations and graces. In a mystical yet certain way, God will inform us if our prayer is True and pleasing to Him through the joy and peace which will fill our soul. For many, temptations, difficulties, misfortunes, dangers, deaths, losses have been stimuli which led them to the art of prayer. These difficulties have helped them to more fervent and stronger prayers which earlier had not been achieved, even with persistent effort, because they were not whole-hearted or lacked sincerity.
The True Art of prayer is taught to the person who prays by God Himself. Customary prayer, without a spirit of contrition, of compunction, is not pleasing to God. A soul who loves God cannot live without prayer. God draws the soul to himself through prayer. Only to the humble person will God give the taste of the sheer sweetness of prayer. Only the prayer of the humble person can be pure.
In the final analysis, my dear brothers and sisters, whoever you are, strong or weak, warm or cold, young or old, educated or uneducated, wealthy or poor, clergymen or laymen know that not even a single word of our prayer is in vain. They are all heard, all of them! For this reason do not forget, during those sacred hours, to mention my unworthy person, since God also loves prayers for others, particularly for those who have so much need. (Source: Taken from the book, Athonite Flowers)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!' -- Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George