42. Поздравление и благожелание покаявшемуся и причастившемуся Святых Христовых Тайн. Вступившему на путь истинной жизни требуется непрестанное памятование о Боге

Now, probably, you have already confessed and received communion. Congratulations! Grant, Lord, that this may give you wings of spirit, cleaving your heart to the Lord, privilege and joy on the path of life, moral strength for deeds pleasing to God. But most of all I wish you to feel the joy of salvation in the Lord. For the Lord is in you, and where the Lord is, there is salvation. One pagan king, when a storm caught him at sea and the shipmen in fear did not know what to do, out of his characteristic arrogance said: “What are you afraid of? You are bringing such a king.” It was an empty speech. But the Lord, when one day a windy storm endangered the ship on which He sailed with the disciples across Lake Gennesaret, and the latter, not knowing what to do, cried out to Him: “Lord, save us, we are perishing!” - first he “rebuked the wind and the disturbance of the waters” and, when the waves had already subsided and “there was silence,” he said: “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:23–25). Thus, only in relation to the Lord can one truly say: “What are you afraid of? The Lord is with you." This I say to you: do not be afraid of either internal or external waves, for the Lord is with you. Do not lose your living faith in this, and your heart will confess: “Even if... I walk through the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” (Ps. 22:4). And it is fitting for all the participants to sing: “The Lord of hosts is with us, our Advocate is God Jacob” (Ps. 45:8). Now, renewed, and strengthened by the grace of God, and inspired by the presence of the Lord, go out to the work of God, which you have accepted with such zeal to do it until the evening of your life. To help you, I will remember one secret of a worthwhile life in the Lord - namely, constant remembrance of God. One must strengthen oneself in this remembrance in every possible way so that it does not depart from one’s attention. God is everywhere and always with us, with us and in us. But we are not always with Him, because we do not remember Him, and because we do not remember, we allow ourselves many things that we would not allow if we remembered. Take the trouble to habituate this memory. Nothing special is required here, only the intention to accept and strain - to remember that the Lord is in you, and is near, and looks at you and in you as vigilantly as someone would look into your eyes. Whatever you do, remember that the Lord is near and watching. If you begin to work to get used to this, you will get used to it, and as soon as you get used to it or just get used to it a little, you will see what a saving effect comes from this in the soul. Just do not forget that the memory of God must not be remembered like any other thing, but should be combined with the fear of God and reverence. People are all reverent because of this. In order to more easily become accustomed to remembering God, zealous Christians have a special technique for this - namely, to constantly repeat a short prayer of two or three words. For the most part it is: “Lord, have mercy! Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner!” If you haven’t heard this yet, then listen, and if you haven’t done it, start doing it from now on. Whether you walk, sit, work, eat, go to bed - keep repeating: “Lord, have mercy! Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner!” After practicing this for a long time, these words will become so stuck on the tongue that they will repeat themselves. And this greatly calms the floating and wandering of thoughts. But again, do not forget to combine reverence with this word. What else would be useful to tell you now, I already wrote to you as soon as you expressed the decision to get down to business properly. Please look at it again. In addition, we need to remind you that we will talk about this later. Be complacent and rejoice that you are embarking on the path of sincere service to the Lord, the true path that will lead you to the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven. May the Lord and the Most Pure Lady help you! You might be interested in: