A collection of scriptural meditations from Saints and Fathers of the Church.

Do not pray for the fulfillment of your wishes, for they may not accord with the will of God. But pray as you have been taught, saying: 'Thy will be done in me' (Luke 22.42). Always entreat Him in this way, that His will be done. For He desires what is good and profitable for you, whereas you do not always ask for this. Often when I have prayed, I have asked for what I thought was good, and persisted in my petition, stupidly importuning the will of God, and not leaving it to Him to arrange things as He knows is best for me, But when I have obtained what I asked for, I have been very sorry that I did not ask for the will of God to be done, because the thing turned out not to be as I thought.

Virtues do not stop demons attacking us, but keep us unscathed by them.

Praise God continually with spiritual hymns and always remain in meditation and in this way you will be able to bear the burden of the temptations that come upon you. A traveler who is carrying a heavy load pauses from time to time and draws in deep breaths; it makes the journey easier and the burden lighter.

You will pay glorious homage to God if, through virtues, you imprint His likeness on your soul.

Do not shun poverty and affliction, the fuel that gives wings to prayer.

The body of Christ is active virtues; he who tastes them will be free from passions.

Evil is not an actual substance, but absence of good; just as darkness is nothing but absence of light.

Spiritual reading, vigils and prayer bring the straying intellect to stability.

Repentance and humility establish the soul. Charity and meekness strengthen it.

It is better to eat meat and drink wine and not to eat the flesh of one's brethren through slander.

Persevere with patience in your prayer, and repulse the cares and doubts that arise within you.

Man's patience gives birth to hope; good hope will glorify him.

It is not always possible to fulfill the usual rules; one must take circumstances into account and try to fulfill what they make possible, as far as one can. The demons themselves are not unmindful of this law. So, being in constant enmity with us, they prevent us from doing what is possible and urge us to do what is impossible.

Whether you pray with brethren or alone, try to pray not simply as a routine, but with conscious awareness of your prayer. Conscious awareness of prayer is concentration accompanied by reverence, compunction and distress of soul as it confesses its sin with inward sorrow.

Prayer is the fruit of joy and thankfulness.

Join to every breath a sober invocation of the name of Jesus and the thought of death with humility. Both these practices bring great profit to the soul.

Prayer... by its action it is the reconciliation of man with God, the mother and daughter of tears, a bridge for crossing temptations, a wall of protection from afflictions, a crushing of conflicts, boundless activity, the spring of virtues, the source of spiritual gifts, invisible progress, food of the soul, the enlightening of the mind, an axe for despair, a demonstration of hope, the release from sorrow.

Unless a man keeps the commandments of God, he cannot progress, even in a single virtue.

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Archangel Michael Orthodox Church
5025 E. Mill Rd
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

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440-526-5192 (Phone)