Every day, every night, let us think that God is watching us, that He hears our prayers, that He sees the depths of our spirit. This does not mean, of course, that we see God as He is, but it creates an atmosphere which allows us to perceive our imperfections in the course of each day: the dissipation of our mind, our faults in our relations with others, and so on.
Living with other people, we are put under certain limitations, exterior rules, constraints, etc. But the Spirit who proceeds from God transcends all these forms.
Let our mind be there where Christ is. Then our prayer will be with Him and there will no longer remain much place for passions. We will get used to living in this way, and by such a peace-filled life we will rebuild our whole being.
In life there is nothing that is really insignificant, small, mundane.
If one keeps one’s mind in God, it is easy to conform to all laws, rules, and exterior limitations, without becoming their slave. Exterior forms of life can easily be combined with a spiritual consciousness. The visible order of life remains the same, but as for the content, it is transformed.
Our spiritual progress depends first and foremost on our own attitude.
It is strange, but we are not used to being attentive to everything that happens within us. We forget about it. The impressions of exterior, material life impose themselves on us so strongly that we forget spiritual life.
We must maintain at the same time both a very strong impulsion towards God and the awareness of our insufficiency and poverty. If we are self-satisfied, prayer ceases to be what it ought to be: the eruption of a volcano.
In a society where each one sees himself as the first, no one makes any progress. If, however, one always considers oneself to be the last, meeting someone else becomes each time the opportunity for spiritual profit and progress. So it is best to be the last. If I am the first, life is infernally tiresome. If I am the last, life is a continual joy, because I am always learning something useful.
To humble ourselves constantly: that is our task! The Lord said: ‘He who humbles himself will be exalted’. But only God can exalt.
Without fail, pray every day to God to give you the Holy Spirit, and the grace to accomplish and assimilate the commandments of Christ, until they become second nature.
Our ultimate goal is that our mind be always linked with our heart. This union of the heart and the mind is itself the place of prayer.
~Adapted from Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), Words of Life, translated from the French by Sister Magdalen (Stavropegic Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, Essex)
