“Love îs sufficient to bring us into a suitable mind of prayer. Christ will come on His own and He will stoop over our soul as long as He finds certain little things which gratify Him: good intention, humility and love.”
(Saint Porphyrious)
Lesson 12: Prayer
Prayer is our communication with God. It is something we should do all the time. In the beginning, however, we need to develop the right condition in our soul for prayer, as well as the discipline required to focus our mind on God, setting aside all earthly cares. This is not easy. First, we need to set aside a regular time to pray. We should arrange for this both in the morning and evening. This means we must give up something else that occupies our time. The hardest part is that this involves a change in our daily habits and routines. We also need to create a physical place for our prayer.
In this lessen you will learn how to begin a regular prayer life. You will learn about the differing levels of prayer. You will also learn about establishing a rule of prayer that you commit to carry out every day. In the beginning, it is like a discipline. It may take some time before you feel like you are having a direct communication with God. Don’t worry, God knows your efforts. It only means that you have work to do in purifying your soul of its passions, and to overcome your sinful tendencies. You efforts at developing a sound prayer life will help you in this too. To develop a prayerful life you will need to seek God’s grace out of your love of God.
Read the section for the manual on Prayer.
View the Video below.
After you have viewed this video and answered the questions, make up a prayer rule. Don’t be too ambitious. Then make the changes in your life to implement your prayer rule. Start simply because you will find out how active you mind is and how much difficulty there will be to stay focused on even a simple prayer rule. Be sincere in your effort, and always begin with a feeling of love for Jesus Christ.
Additional Resources:
Beginning the Jesus Prayer: https://youtu.be/S_VeNg7GE2o?si=ika5BHBpGK0Dge0O The Very Reverend Protopresbyter Maxym Lysack, of Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church, in Ottawa, Canada, speaks about the Jesus Prayer and gives advice for beginners.
Creating a Prayer Rule: https://youtu.be/XaeZLFxxgj0?si=zSphgUwpkwfMvUi4. The Very Reverend Protopresbyter Maxym Lysack describes how you can create a simple (and short) prayer rule for your home life. This talk was given on July 2, 2014, in Ottawa, Canada.
Why Every Christian Should Have a Prayer Rule - Fr. Josiah Trenham: https://youtu.be/VtBKYU-U3Qg?si=WZh6-4a81_OvPgzf.
After you have viewed the video, answer briefly these questions: