Слово 47. Общее содержание этой главы, и о молитве

The briefly expressed thought of this chapter is the following: hourly we must know that in these twenty-four hours of the day and night we have a need for repentance. The meaning of the word “repentance,” as we learned from the actual nature of things, is this: it is, with a prayer filled with contrition, an unremitting petition approaching God for the abandonment of the past and a plea for the preservation of the future. Therefore, our Lord indicated the support of our weakness in prayer, saying: wake up, “watch and pray, so that you do not fall into misfortune” (Matthew 26:41). Pray and be not lazy, being watchful and praying at all times (see Luke 21:36; Col. 4:2). “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; press, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives it, and everyone who seeks finds it, and it will be opened to the one who asks” (Matthew 7:7-8). He especially confirmed His word and moved us to greater diligence with the parable of a friend who came to his friend at midnight and asked him for bread; The Lord says: Amen, “I say to you: even if he rises and does not give it to him, he is not a friend for his sake, but because of his recklessness” 289 “whatever he rises up, he gives it to him, he demands it” (Luke 11:8). And you pray and do not be careless. What an unspeakable encouragement to boldness! The Giver encourages us to ask Him to give us His Divine gifts. And although He Himself, as He knows, organizes everything that is beneficial for us, yet these words of His are filled with great power to arouse boldness and hope in us. Since the Lord knows that before death He will not take away from us the opportunity to deviate, that this change is very close to us, namely the transition from virtue to vice, that man and his nature conveniently accept the opposite in themselves, he commanded us to be careful and strive in constant prayer. If there were a land of authentication in this world, then as soon as a person reached it, his nature would then become higher than need, and his work would be higher than fear, and God would not have commanded us to strive in prayer, doing this by His providence; because in the next century they do not bring prayers to God with requests for anything. In this homeland of freedom, our nature does not accept change and deviation on pain of resistance, because everything is perfect. Therefore, I commanded 290 not only for the sake of prayer and self-preservation 291 ourselves, but also because of the subtlety and incomprehensibility of what always meets us and is not comprehended by the knowledge of our mind in those states in which we often find ourselves involuntarily at all times. For, although our thoughts are very firm and attached to good, His Providence has repeatedly left us at the limit of temptations and plunged us into them, as Blessed Paul said: “Because of the abundance of revelations, let me not be arrogant, since the evildoer of the flesh, the angel Satan, plays dirty tricks on me. For this I prayed to the Lord three times, that He would depart from Me: and I said, My grace is sufficient for you; for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:7-9). So, if this is Your will, Lord, and our infancy requires all this to guide and awaken its own by You, and not when a person is intoxicated with Your love, like me, and is drawn after the good, so that he does not look at the world at all, because of the ecstasy of You in which he is, even when, in addition to this, You have given me to achieve revelations and contemplations that cannot be explained in carnal language, You have given me to see and hear the voice of spiritual service 292, and be worthy of Thy contemplation filled with holiness; but even with all this, I, a perfect man in Christ, am not sufficient to protect myself, because there is something that, due to its subtlety, cannot be comprehended by my strength, although I have acquired the mind of Christ; then I rejoice for this reason, Lord, in weaknesses, in sorrows, in prisons, in bonds, in needs, whether from nature, from the sons of nature, or from its enemies; but, rejoicing, I now endure my weaknesses, that is, the weaknesses of my temptations, so that the power of God may dwell in me. If after all this I need the rod of temptation, so that Your dwelling in me may be expanded and I may be kept close to You, then I know that no one is loved by You more than me, and therefore You have exalted me above many. And He gave me to know Your wonderful and glorious powers in a way that I did not give to any of my friends, the apostles. And he called me “a chosen vessel” (see Acts 9:15), as being able to preserve the order of Your love. For all this, and especially in order for the work of preaching to prosper and extend forward, if I were freed from the bonds of temptation, You, as far as I know, would grant me freedom if this were useful for me. But You were pleased that I should not be without sorrow and care in this world, since for You it is not so important that the work of preaching Your Gospel in the world should increase, but that I should benefit from my temptations and that my soul would be kept healthy by You. So, if all this, the prudent one, is a great gift of temptations, because the more exalted a person is and, in the likeness of Paul, has entered into the spiritual, the more he still needs fear and caution and reaps the benefit of the temptations encountered with him, then who is this who has reached the land of certification, full of predators (see Matt. 11:12), and has accepted something in order to become steadfast, which is not given to him it was also to the holy Angels, “not without us they will receive perfection” (Heb. 11:40), - did he accept that which is contrary to everything spiritual and physical, and wants to be completely unchangeable, wants temptation not to approach him in his thoughts? The order of this world is this thought, expressed as if in all the Scriptures: if every day we constantly accept thousands of blows, then let us not be faint-hearted and let us not stop in the course of the field, 294 because in one unimportant case we can delight in victory and receive a crown. This world is a competition and a field for competition. This time is a time of struggle. But in a country of struggle, and during a competition, there is no law, that is, the king does not set a limit for his warriors until the competition is over and until every person is brought to the door of the King of Kings, and there the one who was in the competition is tested, who did not allow him to be defeated, and who turned his back. For many times it happens that a person, unfit for anything due to his lack of skill, is constantly defeated and deposed and at all times shows powerlessness, but sometimes he suddenly steals the banner from the hands of the army of the sons of giants - and his name is exalted, and he is praised much more than those who labored and became famous in victories, and receives a crown and expensive gifts more than his comrades. Therefore, let no one remain in despair! Let’s just not neglect prayer and don’t be too lazy to ask for help from the Lord. Let us firmly believe in our thoughts that while we are in this world and left in the flesh, even if we ascend to the vault of heaven, we cannot remain without deeds and labor, and be without care. This 295 (forgive me) is perfection; and anything more than this is unreasonable thinking. To our God be glory, and power, and splendor forever! Amen. This probably refers to the Heavenly Powers. That is, repentance and humility. 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