О сердечном сокрушении

The Giver of all blessings, and the Source of healings, and the Treasure of generosity, You alone are a good and merciful God, always giving blessings to those who ask! Since I myself often experience the immeasurable power of healing and good gifts sent down to me daily, I therefore fearlessly beg You, Christ, the long-suffering God, that Your usual grace may descend upon me to gather my mind together, and may it again heal my hidden ulcers! For entertainment and soaring thoughts constantly renew secret plagues. But You Yourself, Long-suffering, always healing with grace and generosity, as the Merciful, heal the frequent infirmities in me, a sinner; but I, Lord, of course, am not able to repay anything for the healing, for what price should I put on Your healing? Neither heaven nor earth can give a reward worthy of Your healing. Thy great bounties are the medicines of Thy goodness, because it is impossible to buy heavenly and holy medicines; They don't even have a price. But You give them for tears, Savior, and for bitter crying You give them to everyone. Therefore, who will not be surprised, who will not be amazed, who will not bless the great mercy of Your goodness, Savior of our souls, when You deign to accept tears as payment for Your healing? O power of tears! How far have you prostrated yourself? With great boldness you enter heaven itself without restraint! O power of tears! The ranks of Angels and all the Heavenly Powers continually rejoice at your boldness! O power of tears! If you want, you can joyfully stand before the holy and high throne of the most pure Lord. O power of tears! In the twinkling of an eye you soar into heaven, and you receive what you ask from God, because He comes to meet you, willingly offering forgiveness. So, Master, grant me, unworthy, tears and strength every day, so that my heart, shedding with delight the sources of tears, may be continually enlightened by pure prayer, and so that with a few tears the great handwriting may be blotted out, and the flaming fire there may be extinguished with a little crying. For if I cry here, then there I will be delivered from the unquenchable fire. Every day I irritate Your long-suffering, O Lord. Before my eyes I see both my bitterness and Your mercy. But the kindness of Your long-suffering overcomes my bitterness. And the birds with great compassion feed their chicks and, rejected by their own offspring, do not extend their negligence to the point of neglecting them, because they are overcome by their own compassion. If the birds are so compassionate, then how much more is Your grace, O Lord, overcome by Your own bounty, in order to have mercy on all who desire You. But similarly, a mother, dishonored by her child, cannot bear the heart to despise him, because she is overcome by her compassion. If the one who fed with her milk is overcome by her compassion, then how much more so is the grace of Your love for mankind, O Lord of souls, daily overcome by Your generosity in order to save and have mercy on those who constantly desire You. So, since I am in the power of an unclean enemy who always oppresses me, day and night I will cry out with tears to Your mercy, so that You will deliver me from his attacks. For who can endure the wiles of the evil one if your grace retreats for a moment, O Master? The enemy oppresses my soul from hour to hour both in words and in deeds. Thy power, O Christ, which forbade the wind and the waves of the sea (Mark 4:39), will also forbid him, so that he has no power over me, Thy servant, because every day he renews his tricks against me, hastens to take possession of my mind, distracting me from the sweetness of Thy Divine commandments and the beautiful teaching in them. Send, O Lord, Thy grace quickly, in order to drive away the great serpent with all vile and evil thoughts from Thy servant. Your parable will convince you of this, O Lord. For You said that there was a certain judge in the city. “Not fearing God,” and also “and man” at all “not being ashamed,” and that in the same city there was a poor widow who begged him every day and said: “take revenge on me,” finally, “from my rival,” and “for a long time” he mercilessly ignored the oppressed. But the widow’s patience was successful, and turned him, merciless and merciless, to the right path (Luke 18:2-5). An offended widow comes to an unmerciful and unrighteous judge to protect her from her rival, and I come to my merciful Lord, the Long-suffering and Good, who has power on earth and in heaven, to hear me soon. Holy, Divine lips! For You are not deceitful, O blessed God, as You Yourself, the Savior, said. Show Your protection to all who trust in You day and night. Do not hesitate to protect me, Lord. Snatch me from the enemy and direct my path to You, so that, having defeated the enemy, with Your grace I may bless You, the Merciful, the Long-suffering, and glorify You, the One who desires the salvation of all people. Since the time of my life has been lost in vanity and shameful thoughts, then grant me medicine so that I can be completely healed from my hidden sores, and strengthen me to work diligently for at least one hour in Your vineyard. And the time of hectic life is already at the eleventh hour. Rule the boat with my purchase by Your commandments, and grant me, an insignificant merchant, the prudence to sell my purchase while there is still time. For the time of the boat’s voyage has come to an end, a great storm has overtaken, and it’s time to cry out to me, absent-minded: “Show me now, lazy one, all the purchases that you had throughout your life.” And the hour of death frightens me, poor one. For I look at my deeds, and my soul trembles; I see the negligence of my laziness, and my bones become numb. For the hour of separation appeared before my eyes and, thinking about it, I came into great fear. Instead of rejoicing, I became even more afraid, because with grace I did not make my deeds worthy. At the time of death, great fear awaits all sinners like me. On the contrary, the hour of separation brings joy to all saints, all righteous people, all ascetics. But the same hour of separation plunges the unzealous and weak into sadness when they remember their negligence and lack of zeal in the past time of their lives. And then repentance terribly torments the heart of a person who did not care about his salvation here. The torment of his repentance exceeds the very fear of death and separation. On the contrary, the righteous, saints and ascetics rejoice in the hour of death and separation, having before their eyes the great work of their asceticism - vigils, prayers, fasting, tears, reclining on the bare ground and sackcloth; their soul rejoices (triumphant), because after separation from its body it desires to enter into peace. But the phenomenon of death is terrible for sinners and weak people who do not care about the purity of life in a vain world. And the hour of separation of a sinful man is very sad; he is not at all allowed to say anything for himself; the commandment about that hour will be given with severity. Alas, alas, soul! Why are you careless about your life? Why do you spend the days of your entire life absentminded? Don't you know that they will call you suddenly? What will you do there, living carelessly here? What will you answer in your justification, presenting yourself to the throne of the terrible Judge? Don’t you understand, unfortunate one, how the enemy is deceiving you? Don’t you know, absent-minded, how day after day he plunders your heavenly wealth? Be sober, be sober, soul, in the hour of battle. Ask God, praying with tears. Cry out to God with heartfelt sorrow; and soon he will send you a merciful Angel to help you, and will free you from the battle itself and from the enemy’s confusion. Try so that the hour of separation does not overtake you in sorrow and sighing, and so that you do not cry forever and ever. At this hour, everything will come to your memory and, complaining bitterly, you will say to yourself: “I remembered all this every hour and, testifying about myself, I used to say that I would spend the days of my stay on earth so as not to sin; I will not again deviate from the commandments of God, but I will always with great zeal begin to do what is pleasing to God. And now I turned out to be an empty person, not having a single good deed.” Enter into yourself, soul, strive unceasingly, and always be afraid. Love your God and serve Him with good works, so that when the hour of death and separation comes, He will find you ready and waiting for Him with great joy. Think, soul, about your life and about God’s calling. The hour of separation does not sadden the one who has freed himself from everything earthly, but death saddens the absent-minded person; saddens the sinner, saddens the lazy one who is too lazy to do what is pleasing to God; saddens the covetous man who has bound his soul with worldly cares; saddens the rich man because he involuntarily separates him from the world; saddens fathers because it separates them from their beloved children; saddens the peace-lover, because in crying he separates them from each other. They all grieve at the hour of death, because they are bound by worldly concerns. What should you sigh and grieve about, O soul, free from the world and renounced from its cares? She was called free - and always be so, and courageously walk along the path of God, willingly doing what is pleasing to God. If you cleave to God with all your soul, you will never fear the hour of death; rather, death and separation from the body will turn into joy for you. Save me. Long-suffering, save me, Son of God, sinless Christ, and grant me, O Savior, the thought of life, so that I may never have anything in my heart except this thought, to always do Thy will for me, with grace assisting me, a sinner, to be ready and willing to walk in Thy commandments, to put to good use the silver that He Himself has given me. You, Heavenly King, and in Your village, Savior, having made a good purchase, will be worthy of praise from You, Master; and when You come, Lord, I will boldly say to You from a pure heart: “Blessed am I that You have come, Lord! For the marriage of the Immortal Bridegroom, clothe me in worthy attire, which I acquired by Your grace. I will also light the lamp that Thy grace and Thy forbearance have given me, O Christ. I will joyfully go out to meet You, glorifying and blessing the Immortal Bridegroom, so that I may be worthy to be a partaker of the righteous and saints who have pleased You forever.” Amen. You might be interested in: