Dialogue with God or Monologue with Ourselves

"It is our conversation with God that brings about our union with him. Beginning a dialogue with God and putting a stop to the monologue with ourselves and with our passions: this is the essence of prayer and of salvation." These are Abbot Sergius's words in the front of the new prayer book.

It is no small task to enter into prayer, especially passing beyond the monologue. Entering into dialogue with God, or communing with him, is far beyond most of us. In this pursuit, a prayer book is an invaluable aid, as Fr. Sergius continues:

"The prayers of the Orthodox Church help us learn how to speak to God in a truly Orthodox and right way. They reveal to us the disposition of heart and the height of sanctity which we must internalize and make our own. They act as icon and window, giving us a vision of the Communion of Saints, for, by using the prayers composed by the saints and by their disciples, we slowly bring our lives into harmony with theirs."

One thing I really appreciate about this new prayer book from St. Tikhon's Monastery is the presentation of a few short prayer rules, in the introduction of the book. One of the keys to good prayer is consistency, and these prayer rules are scalable: short enough to consistently keep every day, and flexible enough to add in something extra when we feel that tug.

When we keep our prayer rule consistently, we open ourselves up to the words of the saints who have come before us, words which imperceptibly lead us into closer communion with God. And that communion is the end goal. Communion is what we lost in the Garden. Communion with God is what is possible again since God himself took on our human nature. And as we explored in the previous post, prayer is communion.

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