When grace is operative in the soul of someone
who is praying, then he is flooded with the love of God, so that he can no
longer bear what he experiences.
Afterwards, this love turns towards the world
and man, whom he comes to love so much that he seeks to take upon himself the
whole of human pain and misfortune so that everyone else might be freed from
it. In general he suffers with every grief and misery, and even for animals, so
that he weeps when he thinks they are suffering.
These are the properties of love, but it is
prayer that activates them and calls them forth.
This is why those who are advanced in prayer do
not cease to pray for the world. To them belongs even the continuation of life,
however audacious and strange this may seem. And you should know that, if such
people disappear, then the end of this world will come.
- Elder Joseph the Hesychast
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