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| Saint Sophrony the Athonite. |
Don’t be anxious about your 'inability to concentrate' when
you 'stand at prayer'. Above all keep the remembrance of God and peace in your
heart. This latter is particularly important for you because your heart is not
strong. Watch that you do not overtax the little strength of your body
unnecessarily.
In order to find the true path, it is best of all to
ask God about this in prayer:
Lord, do Thou Thyself teach me all things ... Give me
the joy of knowing Thy will and Thy ways ... Teach me to love Thee truly with
all my being, as Thou hast commanded us ... Establish my life according as Thou
didst plan for me in Thy Pre-eternal Council?' ... Yea, even for me, for Thou
hast forgotten no-one, and Thou didst create no man unto perdition ... I have
wasted foolishly the strength Thou gavest me, but now, before the end of my
life, do Thou correct all things and Thyself teach me all things ... that Thy
will may indeed be accomplished in my life, whether I understand it now or not
yet... Leave me not to walk along alien paths, which lead to darkness ... but
before I fall asleep in death, grant me, O Light of the World,
unworthy as I am, to see Thy Light.
In such words, pray always about these matters. Some
time will pass, and the power of these words will penetrate your inner being,
and then life will flow on by itself just as the Lord wishes. Whereas as if we
try to discern from outward things, we solve nothing.
All the purpose of our life, then, is that our mind
and heart live God; that God becomes our life. That alone is what He seeks. We
were created so as to live His life, and what is more, His life in all its
unlimitedness. This idea can scare us, when we see our truly pitiful state, but
it is so, and we must not lose our belief in this. One of the greatest dangers
is to lower or diminish God's idea for mankind. All our suffering, even undeserved
suffering, is known by God. He knows and He suffers with us. It is essential
to establish personal - almost 'human' - relations with Him ... I hope that you
understand me. You understand that by this I mean interior intimate union with
God. For every man is called to life in Him, that is, not only in man's highest
capacity for contemplation - his spirit - but in his feelings - his soul, and
even his body.
Here is another prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, Only-Begotten Son of Thine Unoriginate
Father, open the eyes of my darkened soul, that I may knowingly behold Thee, my
Creator and God.
I pray Thee: cast me not away from Thy Face, but disregarding
all my vileness, all my baseness, reveal Thy light to me, O Light of the World,
and grant me to know Thy love towards mankind.
O Sweetest Christ, Who didst send down from the Father
upon Thy disciples and Apostles the Holy Spirit, send down, o Thou who art
Good, the Same also upon us who are unworthy, and thus teach us Thy knowledge,
and open unto us the paths of Thy salvation.
O God, my God, shine upon me Thy true Light, that in
Thy Light I also may behold Thy Glory, as of the Only-Begotten of the Father,
and that within me Thine incomprehensible likeness may be formed, after which
Thou didst create man.
O God, my Saviour, the Light of my Heart and the
Strength of my Soul, may Thy goodness abide in me. May I also remain without
ceasing in Thee, ever bearing within me Thy Holy Spirit, that He may grant me
to be like unto Thee, my only Lord, as all Thy saints were like unto Thee
throughout the ages.
Yea, Lord Jesus Christ, according to Thine unfailing
promise, come and make Thine abode in me, together with the Father and the Holy
Spirit." { ...}
Reference:
Letters to his family. Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov). (2015)