CONNECTING AND COMMUNING WITH GOD THROUGH PRAYER

CONNECTING AND COMMUNING WITH GOD THROUGH PRAYER Fr Luke A Veronis   How many of us pray every day? Seriously. Passionately. Consistently. A psalm I pray every morning is Psalm 63 – O God, my God, Early do I seek You. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you like in a parched and weary land where there is no water… Your love is better than life itself and my lips will glorify You… I will praise you and be satisfied as with the richest foods. Reflect a moment on this prayer of David – it displays his desire and passion to richly commune with God; his longing and craving for a deep connection with the Lord. Do we experience this connection when we pray? Do we seek this communion in prayer? Do we thirst for God? Do we faint for Him like we would faint in the desert for water? Do we seek His love more than life itself? This is what authentic prayer is all about. Now, think about the way you pray. First of all, do you pray every day, truly seeking to connect and commune with God? And how do you pray? What do you do? Do you simply make your cross and mechanically say the Lord’s Prayer in the morning? Do you possibly say a prayer before eating meals? Do you, somewhat carelessly, say prayers without much thought, OR do you stand with attention before an icon, seeking to enter into the Presence of God and to encounter the Living God? How many of us follow a Prayer Rule, or even know what a prayer rule is all about? So many people casually say “My thoughts and prayers are with you,” or “I’ll pray for you” but do we actually mean it? Do we actually pray? These are all serious questions I want us to reflect upon. Over the next several weeks, I will offer a three-part sermon series on “PRAYER: How We Connect and Commune with God.” Over these weeks, I want to challenge each of us to reflect on how we pray, why we pray, what we pray, and what the ultimate purpose of prayer is. I hope that by the end of this series all of us will begin praying in a more serious manner. I hope we will adopt a Prayer Rule which we will try to follow daily. I want us to discover the joy and blessing of deeply connecting with our Creator and richly communing with the Giver of Life. Prayer can be something very personal and individual, while it can also be something communal, praying together with others. It can be informal, like when we randomly call on the Name of the Lord throughout the day, as well as be very structured, with a prayer rule, using the prayers of our Orthodox tradition as well as learning to participate in the liturgical prayers of the Church. “We need to learn to be with God always in prayer,” Metropolitan Kallistos Ware noted. “To make our prayer not just an occasional activity but a continual undertaking; not to pray from time to time but to make prayer a part of who we are all the time.” Saint Gregory the Theologian taught how we should, “Remember God in prayer more often than we breath,” reinforcing the words of the Apostle Paul who exhorted us to “Pray without ceasing.” “The goal of prayer is precisely to be with God always,” highlights the great theologian, George Florovsky. Well, let’s start reflecting on prayer by looking at the first prayer we Orthodox Christians say every morning, as soon as we wake up? We’re supposed to offer the Trisagion Prayers, which include the prayer to the Holy Spirit “O Heavenly King, Comforter…”, the “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal have mercy on us,” the prayer “All Holy Trinity have mercy on us” and then the Lord’s Prayer. Today, I want us to focus on the first prayer we say to the Holy Spirit and reflect on how this prayer helps us understand how we pray, to whom we pray, and what we seek in prayer. O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, who are present everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings and Giver of life, come and abide in us, cleanse us from every impurity and save our souls, O Good One. O Heavenly King – We begin by turning to the Creator of the Universe who is our Lord and Master. We acknowledge and honor Him as our King, the Ruler in our lives. Comforter – “O Paracletos” The Holy Spirit is the One who brings us comfort and peace. In a world where so many people feel overwhelmed with anxiety, stress, and worry, we turn to the Source of Peace, the One who brings us His “peace that passes all understanding” which will give rest and comfort our souls. Spirit of Truth – In society today, few people believe in absolute truth anymore. Everywhere we are deceived by half or partial truths, by fake news, by AI images that distort and mislead. In our prayer, we turn to the Source and Spirit of Absolute Truth, the Eternal One who is, was, and who is to come, the Lord Almighty. We seek Truth in a Person and then try to understand the world through His prism. Who is Present Everywhere and Fills All Things – Our prayer reminds us not to limit God or compartmentalize our lives. There is no where place where God is not. He is everywhere with us throughout every part of our day. The prayer reminds us to invite Him to be present in all we do and allow Him to guide us in all our words, deeds, and thoughts. Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life – The Lord promised that He came to give us life and give it abundantly. He is the Source of all blessings. He is what makes life beautiful and meaningful. His love is better than life itself. So, we turn to Him and ask for His blessings. Come and abide in us – Here is the center of our first prayer. We offer an invitation to the Lord to come and dwell in us, to live in us throughout this day. The Lord knocks every day and waits for us to open up our hearts to receive Him. He won’t force His way in. He respects our freedom. Therefore, we begin the day by saying, “Come Lord, we want to walk with You. Come and guide us, enlighten us, direct us throughout this day to fulfill Your Will and glorify Your Name.” Cleanse us from every impurity and save our souls O Good One – We humbly acknowledge our shortcomings and sins. We know that we constantly turn away from God through our actions, words and thoughts. We turn to Him as the only Good One and plead for His mercy and grace to cleanse us, renew us, give us new life, and to save us. Prayer is our connection and communion with God. We want to turn to Him every day, throughout the day. He is the Source and Giver of Life. Let’s become more serious in our prayer life and discipline. And let us begin every day with the prayer to the Holy Spirit: O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, who are present everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings and Giver of life, come and abide in us, cleanse us from every impurity and save our souls, O Good One.