Our life is full of
repetition. It makes us who we are. For example, we are alive because we repeat
the basic function of breathing. Do we think about breathing? No! We just do
it. So much of our day is filled by repetition. This morning you brushed your teeth,
or bathed, as you have every day for the past many years. Teeth brushing has
become a part of your life, a part of who you are. Now let’s look at prayer in
the same light.
If prayer is a part
of your life, you have chosen it primarily to fulfil the desire to connect with
our Lord. Many of the Saints, when teaching about prayer, write in the same
language as a physical fitness coach. They recommend consistent repetitive
application, a good routine, focus and patience. They remind us not to be too
concerned about the content of the prayer. Our Lord already knows our needs,
our pains, our joys, and our weaknesses. The Saints teach us that the goal is
not the words, rather to open our hearts so the Lord can enter and rest in
there. In achieving that, we will enjoy His presence, His love, His warmth, His
joy and His energy. We will feel peace. We will trust Him and leave everything
in His hands. Suddenly the words will not really matter.
The question remains
how to open our hearts. What about our own words? Sometimes your heart will
overflow with something and with your own words you will speak with the Lord.
That is wonderful, but impossible to maintain over time. Over time using your
own words for prayer, you will fall into a routine and repeat the same things
each day. That too is good, but others have written much better prayers. That
is why most often we read prayers written by others.
In communal prayer
and in private prayer, we have been taught to leave the actual words to the
experts and focus instead on the condition of our heart to accept a visit from
the Lord. Who are the experts? The experts are our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
with the Lord’s Prayer, David who wrote the 150 Psalms, St John Chrysostom who
compiled the Liturgy we use, Saints such as Basil the Great, Ephraim,
Damaskinos, Cassiane, Nektarios and so many others who left us with an enormous
wealth of material to use for prayer. Like good physical exercise, tooth
brushing, or homework routine, we repeat these prayers, some daily, some weekly,
and some annually.
We use the prayers of
these Saints over and over and they slowly become our prayers, their words
become our words because we dipped those words into our heart and sent them to
the Lord as our own. In return, the Lord visits us and we connect to Him. Done!
Repeat as regularly as possible! Finally, there is one little prayer that the
Saints recommend for us to repeat constantly, all day, every day, wherever we
are and whatever we are doing.
They say to repeat it
like we repeat breathing. Breathing results in life for your body. Yes? Well
then, breathing this tiny prayer gives life to your soul. The deeper and more
slowly and carefully that you breath this prayer, the more life and health you
will give to your soul, the more connected you will remain with the ultimate
source of Life. “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”.
Fr N. S.
Source: https://www.lychnos.org/why-do-we-repeat-so-many-set-prayers/
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