July 29, 2025, the question is what stance the soul takes, man’s deeper being, before God, before God’s love, God’s energies, and before any sort of reality.
The more you say the prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”, the more you want to say it. In the same way, the more we feel God’s love, the more we want to love Him. This prayer helps very much, and a miracle takes place in your soul at every moment. As you say it with your whole being, little by little you start to feel that Christ is near, sitting by you and listening to you. You speak to Him and you realize that He answers back; He accepts and loves you.
If you go to Christ and entrust yourself into His hands and have Him within you, things are simple and easy, because afterwards the whole work is done by Christ. We shouldn’t consume ourselves with worry. It’s God who takes care of us. Your only care and concern should be to be united with God and your whole existence should be a prayer to God.
The obstacle that is deep down in our soul must be removed. And the obstacle that exists, is neither the unhealthy state nor, if you like, simply sin itself. Believe it or not, all these help: you go to Christ because you are a sinner; you go to Christ because you are in a mess. The obstacle in the relationship between you and God is that you strive to salvage your ego. Even the most spiritual things are called for in order to salvage your ego, which is full of self-justification, heartlessness and pride; True love, true devotion to Christ and repentance are missing. You are desperately trying to deceive God.
May God make you in such a way that you are not concerned at all about how to turn grass into gold, but to step on gold as if it were a patch of grass. May God make you in such a way that you do not care if others love you, care about you, appreciate you or acknowledge you. Then, of course, all people will turn to you.
Source: Orthodox River
