On Prayer of the Nous and Heart
Glory to His holy name, because we came to know Him and worship Him as much as we are able, and we shun the confusion and vanity of this age. “Glory to God Who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” (Rev.1:5)
Know, my child, that when the heart is free from the things of this world and occupies itself with the study of the divine Scriptures, vain thoughts flee, and the nous is confined to thinking divine thoughts. It is not interested in this present life, but by the great pleasure of continuous meditation it is lifted up to God. Through the continuous invocation of the name of God by means of the unceasing prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” man receives a sense of the other life, of the age to come, and of the hope which is stored up for the righteous. He foretastes the magnificence of that life and says with astonishment, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of the unsearchable God!” (Rom.11:33)—for He has prepared another world that is so wondrous in order to bring into it all the prudent people to keep them there in life everlasting.
Selected from Counsels from the Holy Mountain the Letters and Homilis of Elder Ephraim.
Comments (2)
I can’t tell you how much I needed this prayer in your post today!
I want my heart to be so free of the things of this world, including the trials of the flesh, that I can and will meditate on God’s word and the things that He has in store for us for life eternal in Heaven. So, with that, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!”
PS. I absolutely love the picture of your son worshipping! It brings joy to my heart to see a child in such reverence to our Lord and Savior.
Thank you so much for letting me know how much you like everything and that it touches you and helps you. It is good for me to know it is worthwhile to put this blog together. HW you are always in my thought and prayers. I was thinking about you a lot last night. It was the middle of the night and I could not sleep and I was watching Larry King on CNN. His whole show was for migraine sufferes. I was praying that you might be watching it too. God Bless always!