In our struggle for prayer the emotions are almost irrelevant; what we must bring to God is a complete, firm determination to be faithful to him and strive that God should live in us…That the will of God should be fulfilled in us is the only aim of prayer, and it is also the criterion of right prayer. It is not the mystical feeling we may have, or our emotions that make good praying.
–Anthony Bloom (1914-2003)
One who justifies himself with excuses makes no progress in the spiritual life, nor can he find any inner peace.
–Saint Paisos the Athonite (1924-1994)
We should not despair when we struggle but see no progress, remaining continuously at zero. All people earn zeros with their human strength, some more and some less. Christ, seeing our small human effort, places the number one before our zeros, and thus they acquire value and we can detect some improvement. Thus, we must not despair, but hope in God.
–Saint Paisos the Athonite (1924-1994)
The first step then, is to acknowledge God’s presence; the second is to thank Him. The third step is a loving response. A person responds to love freely given by saying, “I love you, too.”
–Armand M. Nigro (1928-
It is important that we take time peacefully and quietly (even if we have only a few minutes to pray) first to make ourselves aware of the loving, creative, sustaining, divinizing presence of God, because prayer is a personal response to God’s presence.
–Armand M. Nigro (1928-
If in the few minutes that we have during the times of private prayer, we do nothing else but merely make ourselves aware of the God who is already making Himself present to us, that experience in itself is profound prayer; it is fruitful prayer; it is even the beginnings of mystical prayer.
–Armand M. Nigro (1928-
