repentant
14th May 2007, 01:42 AM
The Importance of Prayer
Geronda Ephraim of Philotheou Monastery, Mt. Athos...now in Arizona..
"As a doe longs for a spring of water, so does my soul long for God's face until the end of my days", says the Prophet David. As we know, a doe eats not only vegetation, but also poisonous snakes. When a poisonous snake is ingested, the doe develops an unbearable thirst, causing it to run to find a spring to drink of it, so that she will not only quench her thirst but also neutralize the snake's poison, for if she delays, that venom will cause death.
Sin, the demon, is the snake. That serpent, with the power of sin, poisons man's soul. When man sins, he senses a bitter pang in his conscience. The oppression and the pain forces him to run to the Fountain of Eternal Life, to the Church of God, to the Sacraments of the Church, and there at the life-saving confessional, the venom of sin is expelled and he receives the water that gushes Eternal Life.
There with his Spiritual Father, he is rejoined with God. At that spiritual washing, the filth of sin is expunged and he comes forth completely cleansed, refreshed in his soul, lightened in his conscience and therefore is rescued from the spiritual death which sin created with powerful venom.
The sinner should not delay in running to his Church, the Well-spring of Eternal Life, because he is in danger of being fatally poisoned the longer he waits. With deep yearning, he must draw near to God.
According to the Scriptures, the Samaritan woman had ingested much venomous sin, but without realizing it, she spoke with the Source of grace and mercy. Christ, Himself, approached her and gave her to drink of the Spiritual Water and although she had been a sinner, she became equal to the Apostles and a Martyr for Christ.
To reach God, we must run like the thirsty doe, to ask for Eternal Life. With yearning desire and tears, we must beseech the Lord, and after a time, we will see Him. When we continually beseech His name, saying this blessing, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me", it is as though we ask to see Him in person. Therefore it is important, with each breath, to repeat this prayer. God's grace is enclosed in Christ's name. It is adorned with God. When we pray in Christ's name, we are helped according to the need we have. When we call on Christ, He is always ready to give of Himself. Christ's name is enriched with the power of God. This is proven by the fact that the demon cannot stand to hear His name. So we should be obedient to God's will. "Pray without ceasing, with Thanksgiving; this is God's will for us", the Saints teach us the fruits of this short prayer. Man, with this prayer, becomes an angel on earth. Just as the angels constantly sing hymns of praise to him, all monks and Christians everywhere, when they mention Christ's name with feeling, claim angelic grace.
As time goes by, one is cleansed in body and soul and while actively praying, one's heart resembles the Cherubim, who chant and sing hymns to God's silence. Because of this prayer, a Christian heart becomes a throne of God.
The demons know this and for this reason they make a great effort to place stumbling blocks before the vitality of Christ in the hearts of men. They scatter our thoughts, they distract us with a thousand images, so that our thoughts are not in our hearts as we pray, and when our mind runs from place to place to different ideas, we cannot receive the grace of God. If the brooding hen does not constantly sit on her eggs, the eggs will become rotten. The same thing happens to men; when their minds wander here and there, they cannot feel a spiritual bond in their hearts. This effort of the demons to scatter our thoughts cannot be victorious when we pray without ceasing.
If our prayer is not accompanied by humility, it cannot bring spiritual fruit. We must make an effort to reach this grace in prayer.
Many times when I call on God's name, I am afraid and I ask, "Am I worthy to even think on God's name?" God has much humility, so He is glad to be remembered and to be called on freely, as we would call a simple person. Christ's name will bring in our souls all the blessings and approaching Christ, when we pray unceasingly, we shall expel everything in our hearts that is not loved by Him. We must learn of God by prayer and humility. When we arise from sleep, Satan fills us with evil thoughts so that we have a bad beginning each day. Because we know that, we must begin with the Jesus prayer. This short prayer will help us al day, and if we start to say this prayer with our mouths, later we will think the prayer silently.
So when we have this good beginning, we shall have an end to the evil spirit. A good spiritual life is: to pray unceasingly, to obey our Spiritual Father and not do only things we enjoy, to tell our Spiritual Father everything we think, to not tell everything that is not necessary, to examine ourselves, to love one another, and love Christ and spiritual study. Every day let us examine ourselves; "Am I on the right road?", "Do I pray?", "Do I talk about unnecessary things?". Because we are not humble, Satan tells us to examine others and not ourselves.
Silence will help us very much in prayer. Spiritual silence is keeping silent in order to pray, and not say something bad about another person, so that we humble ourselves and are sad for our souls. But we always talk about each other, so we do not have a good spiritual start. If we are careful to have a good beginning, we shall succeed in building a very spiritual house in the other life in Paradise. Let us begin anew. This will be rewarded because we shall be happy both in this life finding God's blessings and the other life as well. Jesus' face is more beautiful than one million Paradises. If we begin anew, we shall see Him always in the other life.
Geronda Ephraim of Philotheou Monastery, Mt. Athos...now in Arizona..
"As a doe longs for a spring of water, so does my soul long for God's face until the end of my days", says the Prophet David. As we know, a doe eats not only vegetation, but also poisonous snakes. When a poisonous snake is ingested, the doe develops an unbearable thirst, causing it to run to find a spring to drink of it, so that she will not only quench her thirst but also neutralize the snake's poison, for if she delays, that venom will cause death.
Sin, the demon, is the snake. That serpent, with the power of sin, poisons man's soul. When man sins, he senses a bitter pang in his conscience. The oppression and the pain forces him to run to the Fountain of Eternal Life, to the Church of God, to the Sacraments of the Church, and there at the life-saving confessional, the venom of sin is expelled and he receives the water that gushes Eternal Life.
There with his Spiritual Father, he is rejoined with God. At that spiritual washing, the filth of sin is expunged and he comes forth completely cleansed, refreshed in his soul, lightened in his conscience and therefore is rescued from the spiritual death which sin created with powerful venom.
The sinner should not delay in running to his Church, the Well-spring of Eternal Life, because he is in danger of being fatally poisoned the longer he waits. With deep yearning, he must draw near to God.
According to the Scriptures, the Samaritan woman had ingested much venomous sin, but without realizing it, she spoke with the Source of grace and mercy. Christ, Himself, approached her and gave her to drink of the Spiritual Water and although she had been a sinner, she became equal to the Apostles and a Martyr for Christ.
To reach God, we must run like the thirsty doe, to ask for Eternal Life. With yearning desire and tears, we must beseech the Lord, and after a time, we will see Him. When we continually beseech His name, saying this blessing, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me", it is as though we ask to see Him in person. Therefore it is important, with each breath, to repeat this prayer. God's grace is enclosed in Christ's name. It is adorned with God. When we pray in Christ's name, we are helped according to the need we have. When we call on Christ, He is always ready to give of Himself. Christ's name is enriched with the power of God. This is proven by the fact that the demon cannot stand to hear His name. So we should be obedient to God's will. "Pray without ceasing, with Thanksgiving; this is God's will for us", the Saints teach us the fruits of this short prayer. Man, with this prayer, becomes an angel on earth. Just as the angels constantly sing hymns of praise to him, all monks and Christians everywhere, when they mention Christ's name with feeling, claim angelic grace.
As time goes by, one is cleansed in body and soul and while actively praying, one's heart resembles the Cherubim, who chant and sing hymns to God's silence. Because of this prayer, a Christian heart becomes a throne of God.
The demons know this and for this reason they make a great effort to place stumbling blocks before the vitality of Christ in the hearts of men. They scatter our thoughts, they distract us with a thousand images, so that our thoughts are not in our hearts as we pray, and when our mind runs from place to place to different ideas, we cannot receive the grace of God. If the brooding hen does not constantly sit on her eggs, the eggs will become rotten. The same thing happens to men; when their minds wander here and there, they cannot feel a spiritual bond in their hearts. This effort of the demons to scatter our thoughts cannot be victorious when we pray without ceasing.
If our prayer is not accompanied by humility, it cannot bring spiritual fruit. We must make an effort to reach this grace in prayer.
Many times when I call on God's name, I am afraid and I ask, "Am I worthy to even think on God's name?" God has much humility, so He is glad to be remembered and to be called on freely, as we would call a simple person. Christ's name will bring in our souls all the blessings and approaching Christ, when we pray unceasingly, we shall expel everything in our hearts that is not loved by Him. We must learn of God by prayer and humility. When we arise from sleep, Satan fills us with evil thoughts so that we have a bad beginning each day. Because we know that, we must begin with the Jesus prayer. This short prayer will help us al day, and if we start to say this prayer with our mouths, later we will think the prayer silently.
So when we have this good beginning, we shall have an end to the evil spirit. A good spiritual life is: to pray unceasingly, to obey our Spiritual Father and not do only things we enjoy, to tell our Spiritual Father everything we think, to not tell everything that is not necessary, to examine ourselves, to love one another, and love Christ and spiritual study. Every day let us examine ourselves; "Am I on the right road?", "Do I pray?", "Do I talk about unnecessary things?". Because we are not humble, Satan tells us to examine others and not ourselves.
Silence will help us very much in prayer. Spiritual silence is keeping silent in order to pray, and not say something bad about another person, so that we humble ourselves and are sad for our souls. But we always talk about each other, so we do not have a good spiritual start. If we are careful to have a good beginning, we shall succeed in building a very spiritual house in the other life in Paradise. Let us begin anew. This will be rewarded because we shall be happy both in this life finding God's blessings and the other life as well. Jesus' face is more beautiful than one million Paradises. If we begin anew, we shall see Him always in the other life.