For pleasing God you don’t have to do anything else but love – `love and do whatever you want` says blessed Augustine – cause who loves for real cannot and does not want to do anything that may not please the beloved one…but since the prayer is nothing else than the overflow and work of love then it can be justly said about it the same thing: for salvation there is nothing else you need than ceaseless prayer. Pray and do whatever you want, you will reach the aim of prayer, you will acquire enlightenment.
1. Pray and think whatever you want and your thoughts will be purified by prayer. The prayer will enlighten your mind, will drive away and silence the shameless thoughts. Saint Gregory of Sinai states this as well: If you wanr – he says – to chase away your thoughts and purify your mind, then chase them away with the prayer, because there is nothing else which can stop the thoughts than the prayer. Seek to defeat the enemies behind the thoughts by the name of Jesus. You won’t find any other weapon like this one. Saint John Climacus says in this respect the same thing:
2. Pray and do whatever you like and your deeds will please God and fr your they will be useful and salvatory.
Frequent prayer even when it doesn’t take into account the request you make, will not remain fruitless (Mark the Hermit) because in itself it is found a power full of grace. `Holy is His Name and anybody who calls the Name of the Lord will be saved.` Thus for example the one who hs prayed for a long time without feeling any improvement in his sinful life, received in the end by his prayer, a wisdom and an inclination to repentance.
3. Pray and do not try too hard to defeat your passions by your own powers. The prayer will destroy them within you: `Since greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.` says the Holy Scripture and Saint John the Carpathian teaches us that if you don’t have the gift of refraining yourself you should not be sad but know that God asks from you zeal in prayer and the prayer will bring your salvation. The elder from the Patericon – who by falling defetead, meaning that falling into sin he did not despair but returned to prayer to God and afterwards he stood up – serves as a relevant example.
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4. Pray and do not fear a thing, do not be afraid of misfortunes, of disasters, because the prayer will protect you, will drive them away.
Remember Peter, with his weaker faith, when he was drowning, remember saint Paul who was praying in the prison and many other similar cases. All these happenings show the power, the overarching extent of the prayer made in the name of Jesus Christ.
5. Pray anyhow, only do it permanently and do not worry about anything. Be merry and with peaceful spirit because the prayer will put everything in order and will bring you wisdom. Remember that saint John Chrysostom and Mark the Hermit speak about the power of the prayer. The first one says that:
`The prayer even when it is made by us who are full of sins purifies us immediately` and the second one speaks in this way:
`It is in our power to pray in a certain way, but to pray with purity is a gift from God.` Thus sacrifice for God what stays in your power, at first bring at least a quantity, meaning as many prayers as possible and the power of God will strengthen your weakness, the prayer becoming a natural habit and it will be a pure, bright, ardent prayer as it should be.
6. Then in the end I tell you that if when you are awake your time is filled with prayer then naturally you won’t have time for sinful deeds or dirty thoughts.
You see how many profoundideas derive from this wise word: `love and do whatever you want`. Pray and do whatever you want! How joyful and comforting are those said above for a sinner full of weaknesses, for that one who is bent by the burden of the passions which struggle him.
The prayer, that is everything! It is given to us as an overarching means which leads to the salvation and perfection of our soul. This is the truth. But the name of prayer is connected with its condition: `pray without cease`, commands the word of the Lord. Thus the prayer will show its entire lucrative power and fruit only when it is said permanently, without cease, since the frequent repetition of the prayer depends on our free will while its purity is a gift from God.
Source: The world of faith
