When you observe that your heart is cold and prays unwillingly, stop praying and warm your heart by vividly representing to yourself either your own wickedness, your spiritual poverty, misery, and blindness, or the great benefits which God bestows every moment upon you and all mankind, especially upon Christians, and then pray slowly and fervently.
If you have not the time to say all the prayers, it does not matter, and you will receive incomparably greater benefit from praying fervently and not hurriedly than if you had said all your prayers hurriedly and without feeling: ‘I had rather speak five words with my understanding that ten thousand in an unknown tongue.’
But it would, of course, have been very well had we been able to say those ten thousand words in prayer with due understanding and feeling.”
~St John of Kronstadt
Sorry for comment but I dont know where can I post this in english and I thing that all non-russian orthodox peoples must know about this modern martyrdom:
ReplyDeleteUnique orthodox missioner priest Daniil Sisoev has been killed in Moscow on Thursday in in the orthodox church by the two gun's shots. He conducted active missionary activity among moslems, stalinists, satanists and other. He was the founder and the chief of the Missionary Center of St. apostle Thomas. It many times received punishment threats. Many of the threatening rejoice now its destructions in the dirty articles in the blogs. My God! Bless and save soul of okilled missioner priest Daniel! And save as from his sacred prayers. Let its martyr feat becomes an example of a Christian life for us.
(sorry for small english)