67. Утешение богомольца. Наставление о тщательной исповеди. Краткие молитовки и непрестанное внимание к Богу

You have completed your journey! God bless! You see, my prediction of fatigue and aches came true. What was promised to your soul has also been fulfilled. The Lord consoled you with the joy of Holy Communion, and Saint Sergius drove away your embarrassment. You write: “A strong and disturbing confusion arose in my soul, I turned to Saint Sergius - and the confusion instantly dissipated, it was replaced by a quiet and pleasant peace.” So you see, an appeal from the heart is immediately heard in Heaven and an answer to it is immediately sent down from there. Learn from this where you need to look for peace and understanding. But what didn’t you say in confession of some sin: it was done unkindly. Whether great or small, deed or word, but as soon as the conscience says that it is a sin, it must be cleansed by confession and repentance. The essence of the sacrament of repentance is the resolution of the said sin. An unspeakable sin will not be resolved and remains in the soul, and will go with it to the next world. There will be a black spot, which is even more noticeable on a white dress. Cunning will not help there. We must do as it should be done, not by people, but by the Lord Himself. The Lord says: “Thou hast spoken thy iniquity before, that thou mayest be justified” (Isa. 43:26). And to console us and ease this sometimes not entirely easy task, he laid down the law: “If you bind anything on earth, it will be bound in heaven; and if you loose it on earth, it will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). Confirm well and take to heart that everything that is not permitted on earth by the divinely established order remains unresolved in Heaven. And hurry to make up for this omission. Now you need, while repenting of the sin you missed in confession, also repent of what you obviously missed. You did well that you didn’t leave a short prayer almost the entire way. And always learn to be inseparable from her. She will collect attention and discourage idle and vanity thoughts, and keep you able to receive admonition from the Lord through the Guardian Angel at the right time. A small prayer is a great treasure. There is nothing equal to it in spiritual endeavors. At the same time, try to stand with attention in your heart and not only constantly pronounce words, but also keep the memory of the Lord, combining with it reverent fear. God is everywhere. We think or don’t think about Him. He is still here, where we are, and sees everything. Judging from a human perspective, how sorrowful it is for Him when they do not pay attention to Him, although He holds everyone, cares for everyone and supplies everyone with every good thing. Eliminate yourself from among these inattentive ones and do not forget to turn the eye of your mind to the Lord, or at least keep in the feeling that He is near, just as we feel that the sun is warming above us, even though we do not look at it. An intelligent, reverent appeal to God from the heart is already prayer. Do this as soon as possible. And don’t worry too much about the fact that you don’t have to stand in front of icons and bow down during the day. But give all your morning and evening hours to the Lord. Read here, and think, and pray longer. As if you were sleeping, and meanwhile, waking up early, get up quickly and have a sweet conversation with the Lord. Get well in the morning and the whole day will go well. The memory of God, reading the Gospel and the Apostle and other soul-helping books will reveal and confirm in you the concepts of what is worthy. Conscience will take these concepts under its wing and begin to put them into practice, not allowing you to evade the actions they indicate. And life will be bright. Just have a law that you should never do anything (neither big nor small) against your conscience, and if something breaks through, immediately satisfy it with repentance - your inner, home one. Afterwards you confess to your confessor. Conscience is a great thing. She is the voice of the Omnipresent God in the soul. He who is at peace with her is at peace with God. You might be interested in: