Sunday
\n^Thoughts on prayer from Archimandrite Sergius this week<\/p>\n
God has so much to give, and yet so often we are so busy telling Him what we want; or maybe we\u2019re doing good things in the church, being about the Lord\u2019s business.\u00a0 Yet every day, the consistent practice of standing before God in silence is the most necessary thing.\u00a0 As Mary shows us in the Gospel, she\u2019s sitting at the feet of Jesus, just receiving and listening \u2013 listening to Christ\u2019s words.\u00a0 And her sitting at His feet shows her subjection to Him, as she listens in attentiveness and humility.<\/p>\n
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Luke 10:42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.<\/strong><\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen. <\/p>\n Monday<\/p>\n As we sit in subjection at the feet of Christ in our daily life, all we have to do is receive<\/em>.\u00a0 It\u2019s all there!\u00a0 Our task is simply to make that space in our heart, so that God can give us all of His life, all of His love, all of His mercy, all of His grace.\u00a0 It\u2019s up to us to make that place, to make that space.\u00a0 Yet so many things in this world crowd it out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mark 4:18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, \u00a0\u00a0And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. <\/strong><\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of good things and Giver of life: Come and dwell in us, and cleanse us of all impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.<\/p>\n Tuesday<\/p>\n This [listening in silence] really isn\u2019t too hard, if you get into the habit of doing it.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that bad!\u00a0 It\u2019s something we can habituate ourselves to; it\u2019s not something impossible.\u00a0 That Gospel passage has the same message for that busy part of us.\u00a0 It says that Martha was distracted<\/em> by many things.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t say that serving is bad!\u00a0 But that word<\/em> was in there!\u00a0 She was distracted<\/em> by her serving.\u00a0 And that distraction is what pulled her away from Christ, from receiving the good part that would not have been taken away from her.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.<\/strong><\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 Holy angel of the Lord by guardian, pray to God for me.<\/p>\n Wednesday<\/p>\n As we look at our own lives, the Fathers always talk about reconciling Martha and Mary.\u00a0 The reality is that it\u2019s OK to do both, as long as we\u2019re not distracted by what we do, and as long as we have a heart that\u2019s alive to God at all times during the day \u2013 morning, noon, and night.\u00a0 Whether we\u2019re on our bed, or whether we\u2019re at our workplace, or whether we\u2019re in our prayer corner, or whether we\u2019re at church, to have our heart alive to God is the key.\u00a0 The beginning, the middle, and the end of the neptic<\/em> and watchful tradition of our Church is to be present to the Lord, to continue the dialogue with Him, by His help.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Psalm 25:15 Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.<\/strong><\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 Our Father, Who art in \u00a0Heaven, hallowed by Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.<\/p>\n Thursday<\/p>\n And every time an evil thought comes to us, we say, \u201cLord, without You I can do nothing.\u00a0 I am Thine; save me!\u201d\u00a0 Just like Peter saying, \u201cLord, I\u2019m sinking!\u201d (Matt. 14:30).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is the dialogue that we have with God.\u00a0 And St. Theophan the Recluse says this is what routs evil thoughts.\u00a0 For all the impurity of our world, the difficulties of all the ethical and moral situations that we\u2019re in \u2013 really, it\u2019s the formation of the heart, which only comes through encounter with the living God, that\u2019s the key, leading us to understand not only what God wants of us, not only how to proceed towards God, but this also even enables us to do His will for us.<\/p>\n Psalm\u00a0 119:113\u00a0 I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.\u00a0 Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.<\/strong><\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. O Lord, blot out our sins. O Master, pardon our iniquities. O Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Thy name’s sake.<\/p>\n Friday<\/p>\n Only God can give us a right mind.\u00a0 There\u2019s no way we can force this upon people, or say to them, \u201cYou need to have a right mind!\u201d\u00a0 How can you give someone a right mind?\u00a0 Christ Himself must give us this mind.\u00a0 And it must be renewed in us every day, because otherwise we\u2019ll lose it.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something we have by virtue of being great people.\u00a0 This is not about being good; it\u2019s about being in communion with God, which will lead us to good.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.<\/strong><\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3X)<\/p>\n Saturday<\/p>\n As we continue to use the Jesus Prayer, watchfulness is built up within us, so that we become like sentries, as Fr. Zacharias says, at the doors of the fortress-castle of our heart.\u00a0 Then we can see bad thoughts, bad thinking, wrong ideas \u2013 after a while, we can see them coming from a mile away.\u00a0 And then, all of a sudden, we\u2019re able to say to those thoughts, \u201cGet out of here!\u201d\u00a0 And they leave us!\u00a0 They run away!\u00a0 We\u2019re actually able to sense their approach, through this energy of watchfulness that\u2019s given to us, very simply, through the Jesus Prayer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday ^Thoughts on prayer from Archimandrite Sergius this week God has so much to give, and yet so often we are so busy telling Him what we want; or maybe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-orthodox-daily-devotional","has_no_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12440,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12439\/revisions\/12440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n*Sub Tuum Praesidium<\/p>\n