TASTE THE PRESENCE

 TASTE THE PRESENCE

Taste the presence of Christ beside you

We all need a good dose of silent prayer each and every day. Finding that perfect place in our home that can become our cave, or prayer closet, will afford us that sacred space wherein we can go deep into the heart and connect with God. That place where we can close off our family, our worries, our job, our distractions, and go deep into our heart where we will find the peace that comes from Christ.

The Jesus Prayer is the perfect prayer, for it is a prayer of adoration and praise, and a prayer that proclaims that Jesus is Lord and, as God, can grant mercy upon us. The simple prayer which invokes the Holy Name of Jesus can transform our life, and take us into the very Heart of God. This prayer is known as the Prayer of the Heart for the very reason that it is of the heart.

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." Said with the aid of a Prayer Rope (thus bringing our body into the action of the prayer), this prayer accomplishes Saint Paul's admonition that we should "pray always". It is a prayer that takes us out of ourselves and into communion with Christ. It is a prayer that can change our life because through this prayer we can taste the presence of Christ beside us.

Love in Christ,

Abbot Tryphon

Photo: I'm standing on the porch of my newly painted monastic cabin.