Comments on: Beginning to Pray

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 05:17:59 +0000

Fr. Stephen: “The constant remembrance of God is not as impossible as you might think.”

Yes, that is what I’m learning, and that’s what is surprising.

By: fishcracker

fishcracker — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:22:16 +0000

Thank you again, father.

Prayer has been my fixation (quite the wrong word, since the dictionary defines fixations and obsessions as something irrational, and I do not believe it so; but I cannot find a better one) of late, and I have been on the search for writings that clarify my muddled thinking on the matter. Most have been from here.

I am learning so much, most of all, of how much I need to learn.

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 02:48:09 +0000

Father,

I don’t mean to pry, but your statement has me curious.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:53:13 +0000

One of the many memorable passages in the book is Metropolitan Anthony’s reference to the western Catholic St. Jean Baptiste Vianney, who is said to have approached a local man who would frequently come and sit contentedly in the village church for long periods of time. When the saint asked what he was doing, the man replied that he had come to spend time with God: “He looks at me, I look at Him, and we are happy.”

It reminds me of being exiled from the Orthodox parish church in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. We spent a number of months worshipping in a borrowed apartment in a nearby town until the church could be repaired and refurbished. When we first returned to the property for Liturgy, we worshipped in the parish hall until everything was finished in the temple.

Our autistic daughter was very excited about returning to the familiar setting, but she was not satisfied with Liturgy in the parish hall. She marched right into the center of the room, looked up (where the dome should have been), and cried out, “Where’s Jesus?”

Like the man in the story, she was accustomed to Him looking at her, she looking at Him, and finding contentment.

“From the mouths of babes…”

By: Fatherstephen

Fatherstephen — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 23:06:37 +0000

The constant remembrance of God is not as impossible as you might think.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 20:22:01 +0000

Wow. What I am finding is that if I ignore God for 23+1/2 hours out of the day then it is very hypocritical/silly of me for God to save me in the hour of my trials. Not that He can’t, but I’ve disconnected from God to such an extent in that 23+1/2 hours that I have no sense of belonging to God by the time the heat starts to turn up.

I cannot feel God for 24 hours out of the day, but if I work at praying, I can begin to have a more lasting sense of belonging to God, even without the emotionalism. And that will get me through the tough times with His joy.

By: fatherstephen

fatherstephen — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:13:31 +0000

This is a photo from Red Rock Canyon outside Las Vegas. If you enlarge the photo you will see that it is an enormous outcropping with a very small man (you can see him if you look closely) attempting a free climb. We waited as one would as though watching an ant. Not unlike beginning to pray.