Icon of Christ Pantocrator

With the spirit I shall pray,
and with the mind:
Sing psaltries with the spirit,
and with the mind also.
            —I Corinthians 14:15


THE DELIGHTED intellect delights in the light of the Lord when, free from concepts, it enters into the dawn of spiritual knowledge. By continually denying itself, it advances from the wisdom necessary for the practice of the virtues to an ineffable vision in which it contemplates holy and ineffable things. Then the heart is filled with perceptions of infinite and divine realities and sees the God of gods in its own depths, so far as this is possible. Astounded, the intellect lovingly glorifies God, the Seer and the Seen, and the Saviour of those who contemplate Him in this way.
—St. Hesychios the Priest, from On Watchfulness and Holiness


"Prayer does not make things easier, but heightens the worth or glory of what happens in real life."
Fr. Gabriel, OSB

 

 

Prayer of the Church

From the Anglican Breviary:
OPEN THOU, O LORD, MY MOUTH to bless thy holy name; cleanse also my heart from all vain, evil, and wandering thoughts; enlighten my understanding; enkindle my affections; that I may pray this Office with attention and devotion, and so be meet to be heard in the presence of thy divine Majesty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O LORD, in union with that divine intention wherewith thou thyself on earth didst render thy praises to God, I desire to offer this my prayer unto thee.

Tiny cross

From the Philokalia, v. 2:
A BROTHER NAMED JOHN came from the coast to Father Philimon and, clasping his feet, said to him: "What shall I do to be saved? For my intellect vacillates to and fro and strays after all the wrong things."

After a pause, the father replied: "This is one of the outer passions and it stays with you because you still have not acquired a perfect longing for God. The warmth of this longing and of the knowledge of God has not yet come to you." The brother said to him: "What shall I do, father?"

Abba Philimon replied: "Meditate inwardly for a while, deep in your heart; for this can cleanse your intellect of these things." The brother, not understanding what was said, asked the Elder: "What is inward meditation, father?"

The Elder replied: "Keep watch in your heart; and with watchfulness say in your mind with awe and trembling: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me. For this is the advice which the blessed Diadochos gave to beginners."

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Argillius Telluricus Eugenius me fecit