Recall the memory of hell and punishment and vengeance during the time of your prayer, and you will not be able even to receive your enemy into your mind. Make your mind contrite, humble your soul by the memory of the offences you committed, and wrath will not be able even to trouble you.
But the cause of all these evils is this: that we scrutinize the sins of all others with great exactitude, while we let our own pass with great remissness. Whereas we ought to do the contra-ry-to keep our own faults unforgotten, and never even to admit a thought of those of others. If we do this we shall have God propitious and shall cease cherishing immortal anger against our neighbors, and we shall never have anyone as an enemy.
—Saint John Chrysostom
HOMILY FIVE,On the power of prayer and forgiveness
Category: PRAYER
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Considering all these things then, and counting the recompense which is given in this case and remembering that to wipe away sins does not entail much labor and zeal, let us pardon those who have wronged us. For that which others scarcely accomplish, I mean the blotting out of their own sins by means of fasting and lamentations and prayers and sackcloth and ash-es, this it is possible for us easily to effect without sackcloth and ashes and fasting if only we blot out anger from our heart, and with sincerity forgive those who have wronged us.
—Saint John Chrysostom
HOMILY FIVE, On the power of prayer and forgiveness -
If you’re angry at somebody, if you’re bitter at somebody, prayer is the first step. Something mystical happens in prayer: the person you’re angry at, the person you’re annoyed at, when you start praying for them, God melts your heart. If you’re consistently praying for that person, when you approach that person, your demeanor is different, your mentality is different, you’re not looking at that person the same way.
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God is answering in four ways: delaying, reversing the request, not answering, or answering immediately.
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The best prayer is: “Lord! Thou knowest all things. Do with me as Thou willest!”
—St. Theophan the Recluse -
Very often we do not find sufficient intensity in our prayer, sufficient conviction, sufficient faith, because our despair is not deep enough. We want God in addition to so many other things we have. We want His help, but simultaneously we are trying to get help wherever we can, and we keep God in store for our last push. We address ourselves to the princes and the sons of men, and we say ‘O God, give them strength to do it for me.’ Very seldom do we turn away from the princes and sons of men and say, ‘I will not ask anyone for help, I would rather have Your help.’ If our despair comes from sufficient depth, if what we ask for, cry for, is so essential that it sums up all the needs of our life, then we find words of prayer and we will be able to reach the core of the prayer, the meeting with God.
—Met. Anthony Bloom, Beginning To Pray -
When we do these tasks – to pray, to repent and confess faithfully, to read the scriptures, to read the fathers, to come to church and partake of the eucharist, to serve faithfully, to be faithful to our spouses, to be faithful to our children and our parents – these are the things that manifest God in our lives. They relieve my anxiety about discerning whether or not I’m fulfilling God’s will; I’m doing whatever He is telling me to do, whatever He is picking my conscience to do.
SO GOOD QUOTES 