A Prayer from the Early Church in Syria, ....worthy of memorizing.
"Hold me worthy, O Lord, to behold your mercy in my soul before I depart from this world, may I be aware in myself at that hour of your comfort, along with those who have gone forth from the world in good hope.
Open my heart, O my God, by your grace and purify me from any association with sin.
Tread out in my heart the path of repentance, my God and my Lord, my hope and my boast, my strong refuge, by whom may my eyes be illumined, and may I have understanding of your truth, Lord.
Hold me worthy, Lord, to taste the joy of the gift of repentance, by which the soul is separated from co-operating with sin and the will of flesh and blood. Hold me worthy, O Lord, to taste this state, wherein lies the gift of pure prayer.
O my Saviour, may I attain to this wondrous transition at which the soul abandons this visible world, and in which new stirrings arise on our entering into the spiritual world and the experience of new perceptions."
Isaac of Syria, lived in the ancient church times.
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The transcendaecy of the spiritual life is brought out very profoundly in this prayer, so opposite of the hustle and bustle I experienced today while out and about. I pondered if anyone thought on things such as these.
My prayer......Lord, may I connect with this prayer in such a way to be a point in this world that this may reach others. Maybe I will never know if I have or not, but may your servants enter in and remain in this place.
Desert Pilgrim.
1 comment:
Desert Pilgrim,
A good and profound post. Some of it escapes me, and is at least somewhat foreign to my theology and thought.
We begin to see now- and this is surely an important part of our sanctification. But then we'll see clearly, and the vision will be complete, though not static, but dynamic and ongoing.
I appreciate too the thought about the path of repentance being tread in our hearts by the Lord. As Scot McKnight mentions in his book, "The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others", conversion, in a true sense, is to be ongoing in our lives.
Thanks for sharing this, and your own reflections about it.
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