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Real prayer begins from pain

– Geronda, how do you pray about a certain matter?

– The main thing is to feel compassion. If one is not compassionate, he may sit for hours with the komboschoini and his prayer will have no result whatsoever. If there is pain in his heart about what he is praying for, even with a single sigh he will have prayed from the heart. Many, who when asked to pray have no time, will sigh for the other’s problem and that in itself is a prayer. I’m not saying prayer needn’t be done, but if there is no time, a sigh for the pain of another is a prayer from the heart; it equals hours of prayer. You read, for example, a letter, you realize there is a problem, you sigh over it and then you pray. This is very important! Before you even pick up the telephone receiver, even before you call, God hears you! And how the other person learns of this! You should see how those possessed by demons realize when I am praying for them and cry aut wherever they may be!

Real prayer begins from pain, it is not a pleasant experience, a ‚nirvana’. What kind of pain is it? One is troubled in the good sense. He feels pain, he groans, he suffers when praying for anything whatsoever. Do you know what it means to suffer? Yes, he suffers because he is participating in everyone’s pain or in the pain of one particular person. This participation, this pain is rewarded by God with divine exultation. Of course, he doesn’t ask for this exultation, but it comes as a consequence because he participates in the pain of others.

– How will he begin?

– Let’s say he learns of an accident and sighs and at that moment God gives him divine consolation for his compassionate sigh. He sees someone who is hurting and immediately feels compassion, and is thus consoled by God with divine consolation, he doesn’t remain with that initial bitterness over the accident. The other person is helped through his prayer. Or he may think to himself: ‚God has given us so many blessings, what have I done for God?’ I was impressed by what one soul said to me: ‚The angels cover their faces when the Mystery of Holy Eucharist is being celebrated, while we commune with the Body and Blood of Christ. What have I done for Christ?’ he suffers in a good sense.

– Geronda, how does one understand that someone has been helped by his prayer?

– He realizes it from the divine consolation which he feels inside after praying from the heart in pain. But first you must make the other person’s pain your own pain and then pray from the heart. Love is a divine attribute and informs the other person. Even in hospitals, when the doctors and nurses feel genuine compassion for their patients, this is the most effective medicine of all medications given to them. The patients feel they are being cared for with love, they have a sense of certainty, security and consolation. You needn’t say much to someone who is suffering, nor to instruct him. He understands that you feel his pain and care about him and he is helped by this. Feeling their pain is everything. If we feel compassion for others, we forget about ourselves and our problems.

(Excerpt from Elder Paisios, ‚Spiritual Awakening’)

I need Your love when I least deserve it

I am asking You for a caress… O, Lord, touch my soul with a flower petal to make it feel pampered, to make it seek You incessantly and when it catches a glimpse of You for a moment, to hug You as its only Father, as a balm full of comfort. I am asking You for a solace… Kind Lord, soothe the scars of my soul to make it rejoice at Your caress, to make it stop grieving in vain, running incessantly and yet incessantly calling for You. Stay with me, Kind Lord… my soul shouts. Stay by my soul for I need Your love when I least deserve it. (Oana)

Translated by Claudia

Two Miracles of Saint Paisios the Athonite Recounted by Archim. Ephraim, Igumen of Vatopedi Monastery

I want to tell you that these saints who sanctified themselves in our times have great glory, they have great power of intercession before the Lord and they help us very much. Three months ago the following occurred: a driver left the area of Therma for Thessaloniki. At a given moment a monk stopped him and said:

‘My lad, will you take me to Thessaloniki?’

‘Sure, come on in!’

The driver was alone in the car. The monk took the front seat next to him and said:

‘Kosta – without having met him before -, you have an incipient lung cancer. Go to the hospital to get treatment in due time!’

The next moment he vanished. The driver was shocked. He made a few phone calls and recounted what had just happened to him. Later his friends showed him some photos and asked him if he recognized the monk’s face. He recognized the photo of Father Paisios. When he went to the hospital he was examined by doctors and diagnosed with incipient lung cancer, even though he wasn’t feeling any pain.

You see? These people who pleased God appear after their deaths and strengthen the truth of the Gospel.

A lady from Cyprus went to venerate the tomb of Father Paisios. When she wanted to kneel down she slipped and put her hand down on the ground to steady herself. When she returned to the hotel she noticed she had some dirt on her elbow. She rejoiced because she considered this to be a blessing from Father Paisios’ tomb. She gathered the dirt and put it in a little box she had and then went to bed. When she woke up in the morning she saw that a lily had grown from the dirt in the box. Who planted the seed? Who watered it?

God offers us such things in these times of doubt and disbelief so that we can discover His Grace. That is why, I beg you, take the matter of the salvation of your soul seriously! Our life goes by fast, our life is a dream! We shall leave! We are mere guests here. It is like being in a camp. We stay there for fifteen days and then we leave. The same happens with this life here. We shall leave this world. Blessed and thricely blessed is the man who contemplates the unseen, who contemplates and yearns for the unseen through his righteous life!

Translated  by Claudia