Faithful to Prayer

Any prayer is a gift from God. And we, the weakest, have prayer of the lips. For the time being, we fulfill this, my dear. The well is deep, but the rope is short and the bucket is small… Each one does what he can, just as the bee does not take all the nectar from the flower. But it is very good if you do a little prayer rule. I know this myself: if I get up and do a little of my rule, it seems as if I am a different man all day long. But if you get up in the morning and you whirl around the house – because you have this and that to do – then your whole day goes poorly. So do a little of your prayer rule every day, like the righteous Job, who offered sacrifice every day for his children in cast they had sinned in their thoughts (c.f. Job 1:5).

~Elder Paisius of Romania

An old priest once told me to at the very least pray the Morning and Evening Prayer office. I have been very good at the Morning Prayer: not so good with the evening. However, I find this to be true: the more you desire to draw nearer to the LORD, the more you will have to, if not desire to, be faithful to your rule of prayer. At first this may seem to be external form and mere cold ritual, but it is obedience and a willful attempt to abide in Christ through constant prayer. This seeking, knocking, asking, will slowly lead to greater communion with God, and each other. So let us be faithful to the habit of a prayer rule, AND if you do not have one talk to your priest about it.

LORD have mercy, Brian+