By
Archimandrite Totima (Bitar), abbot of the Antiocbian Monastery of St. Silouan
the Athonite, at Douma, Lebanon.
He came to me
with the question, "I do not pray very much lately. I think I'm falling
into negligence. What should I do to bring my prayer back?"
If you truly
want to bring your prayer back, then you are able to do this in an instant.
Through prayer you acquire prayer. Prayer is an act of will. Pray regularly. A
little or a lot? It doesn't matter. With feeling or without feeling? That
doesn't matter either. You begin with the body, with words and motions. What's
important is that you do it attentively. Don't be hasty and don't be slow.
Don't raise your voice and don't hush it. Be moderate. Put your mind on what
you are saying, on each word. Understand what you are saying. Whenever your
mind wanders, even a little bit, bring yourself back.
Prayer with
the body, with the tongue, the hand, the fingers, bending the body in bows and
prostrations, keeping attention and understanding the meanings, all of this and
similar things, is the introduction to the prayer of the heart. In prayer, the
motion is from the outside towards the inside, and upwards. Prayer through
control of the body enters one into tranquility. Tranquility enters him into
humility, and humility raises up within him the fragrance of peace. Everything
else follows after this.
Prayer is not
an issue of temperament. This is why it only comes by force. A person forces
himself, and it is given to him. Indeed, it is given to him as a gift from
above! Likewise, if one waits to be overcome with a desire for prayer in order
to pray, then he will never pray. Prayer with desire is in general
psychological prayer with no spiritual value.
The basic
desire for prayer, or you could say spontaneous prayer, only comes with
strength and grace from the Most High. The beginning of prayer is not like
this. Zeal for prayer might arise in the soul after encountering a person
praying or after hearing or reading words about prayer that move the heart, and
then when he begins to pray his interest quickly ceases and he finds prayer
monotonous and dry. If he goes back, he loses it and if he stays firm and
constant then he arrives at true prayer that spreads its roots in his soul,
little by little, until it reaches its depths!
Usually the
Lord God comforts one who prays at the be-ginning of the path, in order for him
to stay firm. However, the comfort does not come when watched. You do not know
when it will come to you. Pay attention that you do not wander off into
imagination. Do not make room for images and feelings to slander you. That will
lead you astray! Just the opposite, once you become familiar with prayer,
beware of fantasies, images, and feelings because in that is a departure from
prayer. Likewise be careful about sentimentality and mental laxity. Prayer is
something calm and firm!
Standing
before God in prayer is something very serious. Naturally, God is not harsh,
but He is not indulgent either. Prayer has its own special characteristics. Its
joy is tranquil and its peace is alert. Its solace is mixed with thanks, a
sense of unworthiness, and repentance.
Prayer
connects you to God, to the Holy Trinity, to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Prayer is God's language to man so that he will rise up to Him and enter into a
relationship with Him. Thus, prayer teaches prayer and what comes before in it
leads you to what comes after, just as the number one leads you to the number
two and on to three and so forth.
You do not
need techniques in prayer. It comes to you of itself when you insist on
standing in the presence of God and when your Lord gives you what you ask. God
seeks communion and calls you to Him and when you take a step in His direction,
He leads you to Him, just as a father takes the hand of his child or a guide
walks ahead of a traveler. Nothing is closer to the human heart than prayer.
Man is put
together to be a being of prayer. At the deepest level, man realizes his
humanity in which God created him in prayer. Why does the heart not incline to
it spontaneously from the very beginning? Because the passions of the soul and
the body have murdered man's heart and taken control of it. For this very
reason, at the beginning a person needs to force himself to pray, and then his
heart will welcome it and take joy in it because it matches what is deeply
rooted in him, even if it was hidden at first.
So prayer is
the greatest gift to man, not only because it connects man to God, but because
it is also the need and the solution for all things that man faces. People imagine
that their problems and worries can be solved on the horizontal level, through
human capacities. No doubt something of this is necessary, but everything
without exception, all the cares and difficulties should first be faced with
prayer, that is on the vertical level, by casting them at the feet of Jesus.
It is no
surprise that the Lord said, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. (Mt 11:28). Our rational solutions and
initiatives are not always correct, but the Lord God knows exactly what we
need. This is why through prayer, through putting the matter in God's hands,
through giving oneself and one's concerns over, one finds the appropriate
solution to all one's problems!
However, if
you correctly practice prayer, it draws you to the divine commandments, to
repentance, to faith, to gentleness, and especially to love. Then if you
practice the divine commandments, God's presence will become deeper in your
life and the commandments will then nourish your prayer and press you on to
prayer. But if you disregard the commandments, then prayer will quickly wither.
If the commandments cause the relationship with God to grow, then prayer does
too. For this reason, the commandments and prayer support each other so that
the faithful will grow and attain the fullness of Christ.
This support
is also accompanied. One prays and one works. One strives to lift his heart
upwards at every moment and in every occasion. This is with regard to ordinary
believers. But there are those for whom prayer becomes their work. Such people
reach the end of prayer and the goal of work at the same time!
The truth is
that prayer invites prayer. As long as one is en-grossed in prayer, as long as
one makes a habit of it, prayers rules his heart. At the end of the day, it is
not as prayer that it satisfies man's being. The way is open for man to drink
from prayer as much as he wants.
Prayer is the
goal of man's path on earth. A person who does not pray and who does not lift
his heart and his mind upwards remains just the outline of a person, no matter
what he has accomplished! For what is a man profited, if he shall gam the whole
world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul? (Mt 16:26).
Orthodox
Heritage
Vol.
09, Issue 09-10
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