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

You should not make long prayer, for it is better to pray little but often. Superfluous words are idle talk.

You describe how bitterly you regret the inefficacy of your prayers. Beware: to wish for consolation or revelation in prayer is a sure sign of pride. Pray humbly, in perfect simplicity, seeking salvation only through forgiveness, & having faith that God will extend to you His mercy - as He did to the publican.

Whatever you have endured out of love of wisdom will bear fruit for you at the time of prayer.

We must always pray, so that the Lord will tell us what we must do, and the Lord will not leave us in confusion.

Understand what I say: there can be no knowledge of the mysteries of God on a full stomach.

Bear in mind that prayer alone, unaccompanied by moral improvement, is useless.

The Scriptures were not given merely that we might have them in books, but that we might engrave them on our hearts.

Prayer demands that the mind should be pure of all thought and should admit nothing not belonging to prayer, even if it were good in itself. As if inspired by God the mind should withdraw from all things and hold its converse with Him alone.

A humble and spiritually active man, when he reads the Holy Scripture, will refer everything to himself and not to another.

There is yet another reason that may cause our prayer to go unanswered: namely, that though we pray we yet continue in sin.

Prayer attunes us for converse with God and, through long practice, leads us to friendship with Him.

Pray humbly. If you should proudly think your prayer agreeable to the Lord and worthy of being answered, take it from me that it won't be heard.

Ceaseless gratitude to God is a seed of grace from which, if watered with tears of unceasing repentance, grows a beautiful fruit - love towards God.

The most important thing in any good effort and the height of all activities is to persevere in prayer, by means of which we can always acquire through supplication the other virtues from God as well.

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.

Go, sell all that belongs to you and give it to the poor and taking up the cross, deny yourself; in this way you will be able to pray without distraction.

Prayer is a branch (of a tree) of meekness, and freedom from anger. Prayer is an expression of joy and thankfulness. Prayer is a remedy against sorrow and depression.

And when you pray, see that you ask not for what is alien to your life, and provoke the Lord. Ask not for money, not for human glory, nor power, nor for any of the things that pass away. But seek for the kingdom of God, and all that is needed for your body will be provided; as the Lord Himself has said: Seek ye the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things will be added unto you (Matthew 6:33).

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)