Yesterday I showed you one method of establishing a prayerful spirit
in yourselves [see homily 1], namely, how to pray in a way which
corresponds to the meaning of the prayers. But this is only the
beginning of the art (science) of prayer and it is necessary to go
further. Consider the study of language, for example. First one studies
words and phrases from books. But this is not sufficient, one must go
further, and truly reach the point where he can correctly form phrases
in the given language without the aid of the textbook. It is the same in
the work of prayer. We get used to praying with prayer books, praying
using prepared prayers given to us by the Lord and the Holy Fathers who
were successful in prayer. But we should not stop at that, we need to
continue on, and having accustomed ourselves to making petition to God
for help with our minds and hearts, we must attempt to ascend to Him. We
must strive to reach the point where our soul by itself begins
speaking, so to speak, in a prayerful conversation with God and by
itself ascends to Him and opens itself to Him and confesses what is in
it and what it desires.
The soul must be taught how to ascend to God and open itself to Him. I
will briefly instruct you how one should proceed in order to succeed in
this art.
The skill of praying with piety, attention, and feeling according to a
prayer book itself leads to this higher level. In the same way that
water flows out of a bowl that is overfilled, so the soul which is
filled with holy feelings by prayer begins by itself to spill out its
prayer to God. But when pursuing this goal, there are particular steps
which each person on this path must take.
Why is it, you ask, that one can pray for so many years with a prayer
book, and still not have prayer in his heart? I think the reason is
that people only spend a little time lifting themselves up to God when
they complete their prayer rule, and in other times, they do not
remember God. For example, they finish their morning prayers, and think
that their relation to God is fulfilled by them; then the whole day
passes in work, and such a person does not attend to God. Then in the
evening, the thought returns to him that he must quickly stand at prayer
and complete his evening rule. In this case, it happens that even if
the Lord grants a person spiritual feelings at the time of the morning
prayer, the bustle and business of the day drowns them out. As a result,
it happens that one does not often feel like praying, and cannot get
control of himself even to soften his heart a little bit. In such an
atmosphere, prayer develops and ripens poorly. This problem (is it not
ubiquitous?) needs to be corrected, that is, one must ensure that the
soul does not only make petition to God when standing in prayer, but
during the whole day, as much as possible, one must unceasingly ascend
to Him and remain with Him.
In order to begin this task, one must first, during the course of the
day, cry out to God more often, even if only with a few words,
according to need and the work of the day. Beginning anything, for
example, say "Bless, O Lord!" When you finish something, say, "Glory to
Thee, O Lord", and not only with your lips, but with feeling in your
heart. If passions arise, say, "Save me, O Lord, I am perishing." If the
darkness of disturbing thoughts comes up, cry out: "Lead my soul out of
prison." If dishonest deeds present themselves and sin leads you to
them, pray, "Set me, O Lord, in the way", or "do not give up my feet to
stumbling." If sin takes hold of you and leads you to despair, cry out
with the voice of the publican, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Do
this in every circumstance, or simply say often, "Lord, have mercy",
"Most Holy Theotokos save us”, "Holy Angel, my guardian, protect me", or
other such words. Say such prayers as often as possible, always making
the effort for them come from your heart, as if squeezed out of it. When
we do this, we will frequently ascend to God in our hearts, making
frequent petitions and prayers. Such increased frequency will bring
about the habit of mental conversation with God.
But in order for the soul to begin crying out in this way, one must
first teach the soul to ascribe everything to the glory of God, all of
its works, whether great and small. This is the second way of teaching
the soul to turn to God more often during the day, for if we apply
ourselves to fulfill the apostolic commandment, that is, do all things
for the glory of God, even "if we eat or drink" ({bible}1 Cor
10.31{/bible}), then we will ceaselessly remember God in all that we do.
Our remembrance of God will be accomplished not simply, but with care,
so that in no case we would act wrongly and offend God by any deed. This
will help us to turn to God with fear, prayerfully asking for help and
understanding. Since we are almost always doing something, we will
always be turning to God in prayer. Consequently, the art of raising up
the heart in unceasing prayer to God will develop within our souls.
In order for the soul to do all things as they should be done, that
is to the glory of God, one must prepare from the early morning, from
the very beginning of the day, before "a man goes forth unto his work,
and unto his labors until evening" ({bible}Ps. 103{/bible}). This
inclination leads to the contemplation of God, and this the third way of
teaching the soul to turn frequently to God. Contemplation of God is
the pious reflection on divine properties and actions, and about our
necessary response to them. It means to reflect on God's goodness,
righteous judgment, wisdom, omnipotence, omnipresence, knowledge of all
things, about creation and industry, about the working of Salvation in
our Lord Jesus Christ, about grace and the word of God, about the holy
mysteries and about the Kingdom of Heaven. If you start to reflect on
any one of these things, your soul will immediately be filled with pious
feeling toward God. Consider, for example, the goodness of God, and you
will see that you are surrounded by God's mercies, both physical and
spiritual, and that you would have to be a stone not to fall down before
God pouring out feelings of thanksgiving. Consider the omnipresence of
God, and you will understand that you are always before God, and God is
before you, and thus you cannot avoid being filled with pious fear.
Consider the knowledge God has of all things, and you will realize, that
nothing inside of you is hidden from the eye of God, and will set
yourself to be strictly attentive to the movements of your heart and
mind, in order not to offend the all-seeing God in any way. Consider the
righteousness of God, and you will believe that not one evil deed
remains unpunished. As a result you will firmly set yourself to
cleansing all of your sins in a heartfelt way before God with brokenness
and repentance. Thus, whatever property or action of God on which you
reflect, that reflection will fill your soul with pious feelings and
inclinations towards God. It will align all of your human substance
towards God, and it is therefore the most direct means of teaching the
soul to ascend to God. The most useful and comfortable time for this is
morning, when the soul is not yet burdened with many worries and work
issues. Specifically, the best time is after morning prayers. Finish
your prayers, sit down, and with thoughts cleansed by prayer, begin to
think now about one divine aspect, and tomorrow about another, and
incline your soul to this aspect. "Come", says St. Dimitri of Rostov,
"come, holy contemplation of God, and let us immerse ourselves in
contemplation of the great works of God", and he passed mentally through
the works of providence and creation, or the miracles of our Lord and
Savior, or His sufferings, or something else, and warmed up his heart,
and began to pour out his soul in prayer. Everyone can do the same. The
work is small; one only needs desire and resolve, but the fruits are
many.
Here are three means, other than the prayer rule, by which one can
teach the soul to ascend prayerfully to God: first, dedicate some time
in the morning to the contemplation of God; second, turn every action to
the glory of God, and third, often turn to God with short prayers. When
contemplation of God goes well in the morning, it leaves a deep
inclination toward thinking about God. Thinking about God makes the soul
carefully order all of its actions, interior and exterior, and turn
them to the glory of God. At the same time, this sets up a state in the
soul that it often will be moved by prayerful cries to God. These three:
contemplation of God, doing all to the glory of God, and frequent short
prayers are the most active weapons of mental prayer and prayer of the
heart. Each of them raises the soul to God. He who decides to practice
these quickly attains the habit of ascending to God in his heart. The
labor put into these leads to the heights. The higher one ascends on a
mountain, the freer and easier he breathes. Thus it is also here: the
more one does these exercises, the higher his soul ascends, and the
higher the soul ascends, the more freely prayer can act in it. Our soul
by nature is the abode of the higher divine world. Our soul should
always be in this world by thoughts and feelings of the heart. But the
baggage of worldly thoughts and passions leads and pulls the soul down.
These methods separate the soul little by little from the earth, and
then completely pull it away. When they have completely pulled the soul
from the earth, then the soul lives in its own region, and will happily
live on high. Here in heart and mind, and later in actual substance it
will be vouchsafed to be before the face of God in the choirs of the
angels and the saints. May God grant this to all of you through his
grace. Amen.
Translated from the Russian by Rev. Fr. Michael van Opstall – January 2007
