Prayer as Love

Saint Porphyrios teaches that continual prayer without effort where grace overshadows bringing unexplainable joy, requires divine Eros, a burning love for Christ. The relationship between God and the believer must become one of mutual desire: God, the Lover, desires the beloved, and the beloved strives to reach the Lover. This love is most profound when expressed as thanksgiving. our efforts in prayer should not be done out of duty but as a necessity and selflessness, similar to the need to eat. To prepare for such prayer we read the divine offices with love filling our hearts with gladness.

Our task in prayer is to find a way to enter into the love of Christ which is experienced as divine light, allowing our soul to awaken our love in the embrace of  Christ’s love and become holy. We abandon ourselves to divine Eros. Our primary aim is love: for Christ, the Church, and our neighbor. prayer based on this love and craving for God creates a union that is Paradise on earth. It is expressed through love for our neighbor and the desire for everyone's salvation, even our enemies.

The efforts made in prayer should be driven by the love of Christ, aiming to experience His love more deeply.

Reference: Wounded by Love, Saint Porphyrios, on prayer