The Catalog of Good Deeds: Orthodox Wisdom

Showing posts with label Orthodox Wisdom. Show all posts

Advocates of autonomous morality attack Christian morality as if it were motivated by primitive moral principles: fear of future torments in hell and the desire for a reward in the future life. The Gospel indeed speaks of rewards that await the righteous and punishments that will befall unrepentant sinners. However, nowhere are these rewards and punishments offered as the main, exclusive motivation for a Christian. In fact, these rewards and punishments are not the motivation but the natural end result of one’s lifestyle. Christ explains that the narrow and sorrowful path of life preached by Him has as its natural end eternal joy, while the broad and easy path, counter to the Gospel, culminates in eternal grief, eternal torment. These are not incentives, not external pedagogical methods to force a person to act in a certain way. They are the natural results of a chosen lifestyle, which He warns against and makes abundantly clear. It is long overdo for us to reject that absurd and even blasphemous notion that floated over to us from Catholicism that God rewards us for good deeds and punishes us for evil ones. God does not want anyone to perish but desires all people to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth.

A person destroys himself, since evil deeds frequently repeated make a person evil in his nature and incapable of experiencing that light and joy, which is the natural lot of those who are good. The only motive of Christian morality is love, love for God as our Father and Benefactor. St John the Apostle and Evangelist says, We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19). And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world (1 John 2:2). Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:10–11). If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen (1 John 4:20)? And this commandment have we from Him: That he who loves God must love his brother also (1 John 4:21). How is our love expressed for God and what is the proof of its sincerity? The Apostle explains: For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).

What could possibly be greater than such motivation? On the other hand, what kind of real incentive does autonomous morality offer us? “Good for goodness’ sake”? Such an idea is very obscure.

By Archbishop Averky of Syracuse

Source: http://classicalchristianity.com/2015/03/19/on-the-motivation-to-do-good/

"Prayer is the test of everything; prayer is also the source of everything; prayer is the driving force of everything; prayer is also the director of everything. If prayer is right, everything is right. For prayer will not allow anything to go wrong."

— St. Theophan the Recluse

Perhaps the most popular and basic definition of prayer is that it is a conversation with God. While this is essentially true, Orthodox Christianity looks upon prayer as something deeper than "conversation".

Prayer is understood as an intimate encounter with God. When we pray, we meet with God in our hearts, in the sanctuary of all our thoughts, motivations, dreams, emotions and concerns. This is a place where we can share our inner selves with no other human person as completely as we can share ourselves with the Lord.

To enter into this very personal and intimate place with God, full of faith and love, is to feel His presence in our lives in the most profound and life-giving of ways. In this place in our hearts, we no longer perceive God as being "out there", looking down on us. Rather, we sense His presence inside us, stirring our hearts, guiding our actions, enlightening our minds.

Our Orthodox Christian Faith teaches us that prayer is the most natural thing a person can do, it is what we are created for. In Paradise Adam and God converse frequently. It is only after the Fall that we hide from God and choose not to speak openly with Him.

Human beings were made for prayer, not because God needs us to pray to Him, but because we need to connect with Him who made us, saved us from sin and death, and showers His sanctifying grace upon us. Without prayer there is no life, not in its fullest sense. As human persons we are created for prayer just as we are created to breath or to think. Prayer is part of our unique nature; of all God's creatures, only human beings are able to perceive and interact with both the visible (physical) and invisible (spiritual) realities.

Prayer is so important in our lives that St. Gregory of Nazianzus instructs us to, "remember God more often that you breath". At first, this task might seem daunting, perhaps impossible. In truth, we find that often the greatest obstacle to our developing prayer life is our own lack of trust in ourselves, and in what God can do for and with us.

Often we "psych" ourselves out when it comes to prayer. We think that it is only for the spiritual "specialists" to engage in prayer -- clergy, monks, nuns. We feel that if we need to struggle with our prayer life we must not be "doing it right". In truth, it is only when we struggle with prayer that we are approaching it in a healthy way.

But even though prayer is -- or at least should be -- a natural part in our human make-up, prayer is a discipline, it is a spiritual exercise. An analogy commonly used by the Saints is that prayer is like a fire. Initially, it starts out only as a small spark in our soul; eventually though, if we fan the flames with a constant effort to pray, this spark grows into a spiritual flames — these flames are the burning bush in our souls, where we, like Moses, speak with God.

To feed the fire of prayer in our soul, we must work ourselves into a regular pattern — or "rule" — of prayer. Like a fire, if our prayer life is left untended, it will die away and turn cold. The more we pray, the more meaningful and nourishing our prayer life becomes, and the more of a desire we have to enter into prayer…

By Fr. Andrew Jarmus

Excerpt from: http://orthodoxwayoflife.blogspot.com/2009/10/prayer-is-test-of-everything.html

Commemoration of Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky

It happens that we have to meet people who bring us nothing except troubles and sorrows. Of course, we are beleaguered by fear and sadness, haunted by despondency and anguish.

What do we make out of it? What can we do?

When Russia was under the Mongol yoke, Batu Khan sent his envoys to Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky who was in Suzdal at that time. The envoys announced the following on behalf of the Khan, “I have conquered many kingdoms and peoples. How dare you not recognize my power, like all other Russian princes?” Alexander realized that it meant an invitation to the capital of the Golden Horde. He was sad and didn’t know what to do. He shared his doubts and sorrows with Bishop Kirill and asked him for advice. The holy hierarch listened to Alexander and told him, “You have to go to the Horde but first of all, you must fast, remember God at all times and, if necessary, be adamant in your decision to suffer for His sake.” Alexander promised to follow the bishop’s instructions, took communion of the Holy Mysteries, and then went to Batu Khan. When he arrived in the Horde, he was first of all requested to worship idols. Alexander declined and was ready to die as a result of that. He was amazed, though, when, in spite of his refusal to worship idols, the Khan met him amicably, praised him, and bestowed great honors on the prince! It turned out that where he had expected death, he encountered happiness instead. Where he had thought he would find trouble, he found joy instead.

In view of this, brethren, if you sometimes have to go to a place where you expect to have sorrows and misfortunes, do what Alexander did before going there: fast, promise God to remain honest and incorruptible, and entrust your fate to God’s hands. Hopefully, the anticipated sorrow will transform into joy, and grief will turn into happiness. This hope isn’t futile: here is what the Lord says about people who face sorrows and trust God nevertheless, Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. (Ps. 91:14-15). Amen.

By Archpriest Viktor Gurev

Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Viktor_Gurev/prolog-v-pouchenijah-na-kazhdyj-den-goda/95

After the Fall of Adam and Eve, all of their descendants, us included, are doomed to all kinds of hardships and sorrows in life, which ultimately end in death. It seems that there absolutely no reasons for joy. But did the Lord God really create man to mock him so severely?

It is, of course, not so. For the sake of man’s salvation from sin, the curses, and death, the Lord Himself endured terrible sufferings and death on the Cross. All who sincerely believe in Him and try to fulfill His holy commandments are given blessedness and joy in this life and in the future, eternal life.

Having sinned, we immediately punish ourselves: Our body undergoes all kinds of illnesses, and the soul falls into sorrow and despondency. To dispel sadness, unbelievers come up with different entertainments for themselves, beginning with music, song, and dance, and ending with the unlimited consumption of alcohol or drugs. But in most cases, this multiplies sorrow. This isn’t about it being forbidden to man to listen to music, to sing, to dance, and to drink alcohol. All problems begin when man delights in nothing but these things: neither his family and friends, nor his work. “You are my kin and friend as long as you give me money and treat me to wine, with or without reason, and when you fulfill all my wishes. If you don’t want to listen to me, and make a feast for me or share financially, then you’re worse than an enemy.” But can you really live so bleakly and materialistically?!

How do we find true joy in life?

The first step is repentance—that is, awareness of our sins, our wrongdoings before God and others, and a sincere desire to fix our lives. This step is hardest of all for any person, because due to some strengths, it is nearly impossible to know and admit your weaknesses. One has two university degrees, another has a position of responsibility, or a stably high income, or is very beautiful. Another has none of the above, and is lazy and weak-willed. But only through self-knowledge can a man attain true joy in life. They knew this already in the pre-Christian epoch. Nosce te ipsum (“know thyself”) taught the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. And St. Ambrose of Optina in the nineteenth century loved to tell his spiritual children, who would turn to him with all possible problems and impatiently thirsted to immediately reach passionlessness and the heights of knowledge of God, “Know thyself—and that’s enough!”

Attentive, regular confession, which is best done according to the Ten Commandments of God, can attune us to self-knowledge. I must look at myself without any self-esteem and see how I sin against every one of the commandments. Everyone gathers a large bouquet of sins, which is not fragrant, but rather spreads the smell of death and makes our lives and the lives of those around us joyless, and sometimes turns it into pitch black Hell. Remember, the elders foretold that in the last times, in the monasteries they will live as in the world, and in the world as in Hell.

Go up to a drunkard and ask, “Are your drinking buddies really more important than your family? Look, your wife is suffering and your children wish you were at home, but instead, you’re drinking with some vagabonds who would sell you for a glass.” However, he picks their company, which, to him, is sweeter than the company of his wife and children. Is there really some kind of Divine punishment in this? No, the man himself is striving for Hell, he loves it there, his life does not have the light of the Lord, and he doesn’t want to go to Him.

Hardly does a man turn his face to God, when immediately, although sometimes with material losses, everything changes—he becomes peaceful and joyful.

The second step is that we must learn how to sincerely forgive those who have voluntarily or involuntarily offended us. Without such forgiveness, the remission of our sins and our personal repentance is impossible. The Lord speaks very clearly about it: For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Mt. 6:14-15). Usually a thousand excuses are found to prove our rightness and not to forgive. But for all our struggle for truth, we lose the most valuable thing in life—joy, and in the end, it turns out that we’re wrong. As one sage told one man, “You have much truth, too much truth, but little mercy, and that means you are wrong.” And the holy apostle James writes, Mercy rejoiceth against judgment (Jas. 2:13).

A multitude of objections will pour forth that it’s impossible to live that way; if you forgive everyone, you will stay as poor as a church mouse. Indeed, the majority of us, having weak faith, can barely sustain such a measure of forgiveness. But, it is at least necessary to strive to learn at first to forgive at least the small things, otherwise the mark of offence will be reflected on our faces, and there will never appear there even a glimpse of joy.

The third step is to accustom yourself to doing good and not only as a professional or service obligation, but as altruistic mercy in your free time. This is one of the most effective ways to attract Christ into your life. The Lord always gives His almighty help to those who selflessly help others. There is a double joy in this: Those whom you helped rejoice, and we ourselves, naturally, rejoice that we could support them.

Nowadays, gratuitous help is gradually becoming a rarity. In the first place, most people have self-interest. We should show at least a little selflessness and mercy in relation to others—and Christ Himself will immediately bless your life with joy.

The fourth step towards joy is to wean yourself off of bad habits of constantly judging others, even those who truly deserve condemnation. Christ the Savior calls us to this: Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again (Mt. 7:1-2). Why must we not judge others? St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia answers this question: “Those whom we call publicans and harlots, are, for God, caught thieves, while I, and all of you—we are thieves, but not caught. A detained and humiliated thief, and a harlot, known to all, covered with shame, humbling herself and repenting, are much higher than us, who, having good names, live hidden and suspect lives.”

Again, many say, “So, what should we do—let evil flourish, if we can’t judge anyone?” No, of course, we must fight evil, but there are various means of fighting. When we fight it physically or through verbal abuse, then evil, as a rule, has the tendency to spread even more. As life shows, you can’t always fight fire with fire. The holy apostle Paul exhorts: If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good (Rm. 12:18-21). Why is such advice given? God wisely arranges everything in life so that the greatest joy a person experiences is not when he triumphs over others, but when he triumphs over himself, his own laziness, negligence, sins, and passions. All Christians have the opportunity to be assured of this when they do not blame others for their own personal problems in confession, but sincerely repent of their sins.

The fifth step to joy is prayer. Some go to church to pray as servitude. Laziness overcomes us at home, and so as not to pray, we find every kind of thing to do. If we stand in prayer, then the mind is constantly scattered to secondary objects. He who has no experience in prayer will ask with bewilderment, “What kind of joy could there be in prayer?” But in fact, it gives great consolation. After all, prayer is not some psychological auto-training, as non-believers think, but an unseen connection with the source of our life—God. Only in conversation with Him can we glean inspiration in all of our usual tasks. With prayer, any task, even the most difficult, goes smoothly. And conversely, without it the very easiest task becomes unbearably complicated. That is why it’s so important to read the morning and evening prayers at home, and not forget about prayer before and after food, and before the beginning of any work. It is especially necessary to go to the Church of God every Sunday and on feast days. There, thanks to common prayer with others, our prayer is strengthened manifold. It is, perhaps, nearly impossible to see someone who would leave church after the Divine Liturgy with a sorrowful face. One of the important fruits of prayer is unspeakable joy, which is incomparably beyond what the world can give us with all of its entertainments.

By Archimandrite Marcellus (Pavuk)

Source: http://orthochristian.com/107616.html

Perhaps one of the most memorable verses in the New Testament comes from the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel, “ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.” (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) It was not by accident that St. John used, as the primary vehicle for communicating God’s person and presence, the term “λόγος” – Word.

A word is a means of communication. It is customarily spoken. It is itself a revelation of the One who speaks it. It requires seeing and hearing and, to distill its full meaning, it requires “rumination,” or pondering in the heart. Sacred Scripture is the living compendium of God’s Word, replete with stories, lessons, instructions, directions, and prophetic preaching designed to be seen, heard, and brought deep into the heart. In his book Bread for Life: Reading the Bible, Fr. Theodore Stylianopoulos, Professor of New Testament at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, writes, “The Church does not give us Holy Scripture as a book to study and interpret on our own. Rather, it opens to us the door to that beauty to which we are called by the Bridegroom Himself.”

Sacred Scripture is an encounter. It is a meeting between the human person and the very author of humanity itself. It is an extension of the salvific work done in Jesus Christ. A “living” testimony, Scripture is the presence of the Holy Spirit seeking us out to renew us and recreate us to live life in the post-modern world where, alas, words grow increasingly cheap, meaningless, and void of any power to inspire. If Sacred Scripture is so wondrous, then why do so few Orthodox Christians fail to read the Word of God every day?

A Pew Research Study on Religion and Public Life, indicates that nearly 70 percent of Orthodox Christians seldom or never pick up the Scripture and read it. 70 percent! I suspect that many, if not most reading these words find yourselves in that group. More shocking is the fact that 43 percent of Orthodox Christians believe Sacred Scripture is not the Word of God. These alarming survey results stand in stark contrast to the words of St. John Chrysostom. He tells his listeners “to persevere continually in reading the Divine Scriptures, because it is not possible, not possible for anyone to be saved without continually taking advantage of spiritually reading the Scriptures.”

Saint Jerome confirms Chrysostom’s counsel when he writes that “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ Himself!” For that reason, we need an Orthodox renaissance of Scripture reading. For the sake of our own holiness, spiritual life and desired closeness to Jesus, we need to read the Word, to reflect on the Word, and to live the Word – every day! How can we do that? Because of the limited amount of space, I suggest we begin by understanding how Sacred Scripture is read and by knowing four key qualities of reading the Word of God.

How is Sacred Scripture Read?

First, there is the reading of Scripture that is principally concerned with whether or not an event actually historically (factually) happened. For this method, historical authenticity means everything. It is often referred to as the “literal” way and is built on the premise that everything in Scripture literally happened as described. Secondly, there is the moral way of reading Scripture which seeks to find the moral reality, the values/ethics being taught in every passage. This way seeks out the various principles for Christian conduct, tantamount to a handbook of values. Finally, there is the spiritual way of reading Scripture. This method puts far less significance on the historical reality than the literal method and less emphasis on the purely moral reading.

A spiritual reading means discerning what the passage says about God, His world, and His work in the world – and how it applies to my life. This last method is used by Orthodox scholars as it was by the Fathers of the Church who were the first to engage in the formal study and development of Sacred Scripture. Biblical scholar Fr. Joseph Fitzmeyer notes that, “Our culture is obsessed with literal truth. Yet Sacred Scripture dealt in larger categories that literal truth. The New Testament, in particular, uses symbolic/spiritual language. Rarely do we decide a parable’s worth by whether or not it historically happened, in real time and space.”

Sacred Scripture tells us the story of how the kingdom of Light is expelling the darkness of human sin and death, as the Good News of Christ is preached and lived. The entire Bible is actually telling the “spiritual” reality behind what we perceive with our senses. The Orthodox way of reading Scripture is actually more faithful to reality, not as we see it, but as God sees it. Reading Scripture is an expression of what the Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl said was, “man’s search for meaning”—a school of psychiatry he named “logotherapy”.

What are the Four Key Qualities of Reading Sacred Scripture?

Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia answers that question in the following way, “We believe that the Scriptures constitute a coherent whole. They are at once divinely inspired and humanly expressed. They bear authoritative witness to God’s revelation of Himself – in creation, in the Incarnation of the Word, and the entire history of salvation. As such they express the word of God in human language.”

Because of this, when we pick up Sacred Scripture to read it, we approach it with four qualities. Firstly, our reading should be obedient. We read Scripture like no other reading we may do. It is inspired of God, contains his voice and authoritative witness, and requires our obedience (openness, submission). In short, we must be receptive to the message God is communicating to us in our reading. Not a novel, not a biography, not a history text, Scripture is “Word-for-Meaning” in our life and we use our God-given reason to plumb its depths.

Secondly, as Orthodox Christians, we should receive and interpret Scripture through the Church and in the Church. The Church tells us what is Scripture and how it is understood. The Church defined what books were to be in Scripture, known as The Canon. In Acts we see the Apostle Philip encountering an Ethiopian reading the Old Testament. Philip asks, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian answers, “How can I, unless some man should guide me?” (Acts 8:30-31) Though we read the Scripture personally, it represents the mind of the Church and is “the Book of the Church.” For this reason it is precious to our faith.

Thirdly, our reading of the Bible should be Christ-centered. From start to finish, the Bible is the story of God’s persistent love reaching out and into man, ultimately through the Word-made-flesh, Jesus Christ. Analytical approaches break out the Scriptures into various sources which can harm the inner integrity of the book as a whole. We Orthodox prefer, instead, a synthetic approach, reading the Scriptures as an integrated whole with Christ as the bond of union. As Fr. Alexander Schmemann famously wrote, “A Biblical Christian is the one who, wherever he looks, on every page of Scripture, finds Christ everywhere.”

Lastly, our reading of Sacred Scripture ought to be personal. St. Mark the Monk, an early ascetic writer, relates, “He who is humble in his thought and engaged in spiritual work, when he reads the Holy Scriptures, will apply everything to himself and not to his neighbor.”

Scripture does not just ask “What does it mean?” but “What does it mean for me?” Where is my story within the larger narrative of salvation history? Where is God encountering me, reaching out to me, correcting me, teaching me? This is the point of all Scripture reading, both private and liturgical: to discover ourselves as part of salvation history, part of the reason why Jesus came, part of the hand of God’s mercy reaching into our lives to heal us and make us whole. There is life and hope in the pages of Holy Writ, there for us to discover.

One day, a still small voice whispered to St. Augustine as he sat in his garden. “Tolle, lege!” – “Take up, and read!” The incorrigible Augustine, who spent his life running from God, took up the Sacred Scripture, by chance flipped it open to the Epistle to the Romans, and it literally changed his life forever! That is God’s promise to each one of us – if we, too, take up and read.

By Rev. Fr. Dimitrios J. Antokas

Source: http://myocn.net/take-up-and-read/

“Why?” Why didn’t God stop all of these hurricanes? Why did my friends lose their jobs? Why can’t I stop this bad habit? Why am I struggling financially?

Each of us has our own set of “whys” that we ask ourselves and that maybe we ask God in prayer each day. We want there to be a rhyme and reason to life. We want there to be order and justice. We want our prayers heard and answered.

There’s some dissonance when we know we’re prayerful people (or at least people who consistently try to pray) but things don’t go as planned. We lose our jobs, bills pile up, family members pass away, and natural disasters seem only to be more frequent. We need God more than ever, but these problems have a habit of pushing us away from our faith.

Here are three things to keep in mind in the midst of hard times.

1. God IS with us

When things are going well, it isn’t so hard to remember God. It’s when nothing seems to be working out that we wonder where God is in our lives. In the Old Testament, the Prophet Elijah (St. Elias) went in search for God to speak to Him. He found that God wasn’t found in these big shows of the earth’s power (the wind, the earthquake, or fire)...but He was found in a quiet whisper (1 Kings 19:9-13). Later, when God chose to become man, He wasn’t born a king, he was born to a young girl in a cave. Jesus was born and called Immanuel (literally “God with us”) in a way the people weren’t expecting (Matthew 1:23). So maybe God is with us when we least expect it, too.

For many of us, it can be really hard to sense God’s presence with us when we’re going through tough times. Sadness and grief can lead us to despair and despondency. Worry can lead to anxiety and fear. And fear just leads us to isolate and get lost in the what-ifs in our thoughts.

So how do we see that God is with us? There’s a beautiful Orthodox prayer service called the “Glory to God for all Things Akathist” that helps us to meditate on our many blessings and gratitudes when we might be inclined to see none. God is with us in the love of friends and family. Even after a disaster, God is made known to us in the acts of kindness shown by strangers and in the service given by emergency personnel. God is with us, and we recognize His presence when we learn to see the many signs of His mercy.

2. We can’t always explain suffering

Since so many of us ask “Why?” when we face suffering, there is no shortage of people giving explanations. Many Protestant pastors have suggested that natural disasters serve as signs of the Second Coming of Christ or serve as punishment for societal sin. Other people, like Kirk Cameron (actor from the 1985-1992 sitcom Growing Pains and the popular Left Behind series about the supposed “Rapture”) suggest that storms like Hurricane Irma are meant for individuals to personally repent.

One blogger, commenting on Kirk Cameron’s remarks, wrote:

People who are wounded and grieving and heartbroken need to be cared for and comforted and embraced—they don’t need any armchair theology about why this is a good thing, or how it’s a Divine personal message, or what God might be personally saying to them. It’s one thing for a victim to seek and speculate on such things for themselves, but something else for us to do it for them…

Maybe we should admit the mystery, discomfort, and the tension that spirituality yields in painful, terrifying times.

Maybe when people are being terrorized by nature or by the inhumanity around them, instead of shouting sermons at them—we should shut up and simply try to be a loving, compassionate presence.

This response meant so much to me, personally, because I still feel an instinctive cringe awaiting some religious leader giving their interpretation of the impending doom that natural disasters might represent. It’s part of my own path of healing having been raised in a Rapture-centric community before becoming Orthodox.

Sometimes we can look too hard for meaning in situations that simply are. We live in a broken world with pain and suffering and being a Christian doesn’t make us imune to the ways of the world. I can’t give meaning to another’s suffering. I can’t even guarantee I’ll make sense of my own; the only thing I can do with it is offer it up to God in prayer.

3. Prayer isn’t a transaction

When we encounter difficult times, prayer is either the last thing we think about or it’s the thing we grasp onto. As I watched Hurricane Irma approach Florida, I had to consciously reject the urge to freeze with anxiety about family and friends, and instead turn to prayer. In the moment, prayer was the only thing I could do. But what if my prayers aren’t answered? What if what I ask for (protection for people I love) isn’t what I get?

I can approach prayer as a transactional process with God or I can approach it as a transformational encounter with Him as part of our relationship. I’m abusing my relationship with God if I expect something from Him in return for my time and energy in prayer. If I think I’ll get what I want if only I fast properly or say the right words, or ask the right saint to intercede for me, I’m not committing myself and others to God.

Instead, I can chose to give my worries and concerns up to God. I can tell Him what is making me scared, and I can ask Him that His will “be done on earth as it is in heaven” as we pray in the Our Father. I pray so that I can make myself aware of being in the presence of God and so that God can soften the hardness of my heart. And then, naturally, God gives me the strength I need to endure the hard times.

Source: https://blogs.goarch.org/blog/-/blogs/holding-on-to-god-in-hard-times

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )

Search This Blog

featured Slider

The Motivation to Do Good

Prayer as the Reflection of Your Spiritual Life

What to Do When We Have to Meet Unpleasant People Who Bring Us Nothing but Trouble and Sorrow

Five Steps to Joy Everyone Can Make

How One Should Read the Holy Scripture in the Right Way

3 Points about Holding on to God in the Most Hard Times

Partners