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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THE NATIVITY FAST (November 15 - December 24): REPENTANCE, FASTING, AND PRAYER (Part II)
On Prayer
Prayer is a universal phenomenon, the fundamental and inseparable element of every religion and every personal piety...The believer not only believes that the infinite and invisible God exists, but that He also reveals Himself to people. It is through this revelation (apocalypse) of God that it becomes possible for man to have a personal communion with God. When, therefore, the believer prays, he or she speaks directly to God and becomes aware of a communion with Him. Consequently, prayer presupposes faith in the reality and the presence of God, and means primarily that living relationship between man and God, which is nothing less than a direct and real spiritual contact and personal conversation between persons, between an "I" and a "You". The person who prays is the "I" and the God Who is addressed in prayer is the "You."
"...Prayer, as the mystery of the unity of man with God, is truly an incomprehensible miracle of miracles which can become a daily experience in the soul of the pious believer who prays with attention and sincerity. Saint John Chrysostomos emphasizes that prayer is the most powerful thing in the life of a person, and nothing can be compared with prayer. Prayer is the unique and priceless gift of the Creator to man, because it is through this most important Divine gift of prayer that the creature is raised up to the Creator and the finite human person is empowered to converse with the infinite God and Creator.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has taught us to pray in this manner:
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our transgressions as we forgive those who transgress against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from the Evil One.
This is the Lord's Prayer, which our Lord Himself taught His Disciples to say when they asked Him: "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1). The Lord's Prayer is the foundation of all prayers and supplications.
"...We should from the start confess that prayer is essentially a daring and dangerous undertaking for man. When a person conscientiously attempts to encounter the Living God and converse with Him, admittedly such a person is actually undertaking an awesome adventure! Every encounter with God is also a crisis, an ultimate event, because truly "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). When we seek to enter into the presence of God through prayer, we are actually approaching Divine fire, which at the same time both attracts us and repels us. During the time, of prayer we are required to place ourselves without reservation, but with humility, contrition and love, before this Divine fire and to become like that biblical bush that burned but was not consumed (cf. Exodus 3:2). This daring undertaking means that we must remove from our old selves everything that separates us from God, that we may rediscover our life anew and regenerated in Christ God.
"...As Saint John Chrysostomos and many other Holy Fathers of the Church remind us, the difficulties and the obstacles we encounter in prayer come primarily from Satan, who seeks to distort and to falsify prayer, thus making it often unenlightened and useless. Satan can be defeated by the persons, who turn to God in prayer, and seek conscientiously to do His Will in their life and in the world. We all know, of course, from personal experience, how the bodily and mental passions and the wily machinations of fantasy create constant difficulties and obstacles in our efforts to pray. When we say passions, we mean those sinful desires, through which Satan seeks to ensnare us, to cause us to neglect our duties, to betray our spiritual nature and to commit sin. All of the passions, both the bodily and the mental, have their root in selfishness, in the love of self, in egotism (pride). It is impossible to hope for any ascent upon the ladder of spiritual prayer if we do not undertake a determined and persistent struggle against these passions. The way toward prayer is always a moral and spiritual way, which presupposes discipline of the will and of the whole personality. The vision of God and the purity of the heart are inseparable realities. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8).
"...It becomes very clear then that our prayer must be grounded in our real and authentic life. And yet our sins should not stop us from prayer. We should be ashamed of our sins, but they should not keep us from our prayers. If our life is contrary to our prayers, or if our prayer is not related consistently with our real life, then, unfortunately, we must say that our prayer is inauthentic, only an empty shell, a dead and false form. Still, we must approach God with prayer and give Him the opportunity to forgive our sins. From this perspective of personal ethics and spiritual life, prayer has indeed, difficulties and serious demands. Prayer is also something possible and achievable and certainly most beautiful and sacred, something which by nature the spiritual person fervently seeks and often achieves with the grace and blessing of God. Amen. (Source: An Anthology of Orthodox Prayers by Father Peter A. Chamberas)
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The Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian
O Lord and Master of my life, Give me not a spirit of laziness, of aimless curiosity, A spirit of lust for power over others and of vain talk.
Rather, grace me, Your servant, With the spirit of purity, humility, patience and love.
Yes, O Lord King, Grant me discernment to see my own faults, And not to judge and condemn my fellow human beings.
For You are Blessed unto the ages. Amen.
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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