Once
when I was a youth I asked my spiritual father to teach me how to
get the most benefits from praying the Psalms of the Agepya. I explained
to my spiritual father that I want to feel the love of my Lord Jesus
Christ and that I am in front of His Holy presence.
He
said to me, "I think you know that by baptism we have put on Christ
(Galations 3:27) and have been renewed in the Spirit of our minds
after the likeness of God in True Righteousness and Holiness (Ephesians
4:23-24), and have put on the New Nature, which is being renewed in
knowledge after the Image of its Creator (Colossians 3:10)."
My
spiritual father continued, "The unseen, "new man," is inside each
of us, in our hearts. In him, the Lord Jesus Christ, finds rest. So,
in order to feel God's love and rejoice in it, we have to pray from
within our hearts, from our "new man" that according to his nature
could feel and be in touch with our Lord Jesus Christ.
I
asked my spiritual father to give me a practical example. He answered
me saying, "If you pray, for example, with the first verse of Psalm
51, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to the multitude of Your
loving kindness, according to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
blot out my transgressions," or with any other verse that is in harmony
with your feelings:
First-
repeat the verse several times
Second-
transfer the verse to your mind and repeat it until all the meanings
of the words become clear to your mind and all the interfering thoughts
have stopped
Third-
Transfer it to your heart, to your "new man" that is dwelling inside
of you. as Eternal life is in him, and the Lord Jesus Christ finds
rest in him. During this time you repeat the verse, but stop thinking
with your mind.
You
will now feel that you are in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Your heart will feel Him. Your heart will burn within you as a sign
acknowledging the presence of the Lord exactly as it happened with
the two Emmaus Disciples.
You
will feel as though you should drop on your knees at once and worship
Him. This will be another sign of His Holy presence. Your heart will
talk to Him and words become no longer necessary. You keep silent
as you go from one verse to another verse. Finally, you come to the
realization that what you actually gained from praying is the gift
of His love.
I
thanked my spiritual father and made a metania to him and left him
to another disciple to partake of the spiritual milk and honey from
the Holy Orthodox Church.
