Reverence in every way images of living men, in order that you may duly reverence the image of God. For the image of the Lord Jesus Christ is the human image. He who does not respect the human image will not respect the image of God!

Am I not everything to you—I am the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost—your God, your life, your peace, your joy, and your blessedness? Your riches, your meat, and drink; your raiment, your all? To what, then, do you cling? Is it not to dust? What is that you grudge Me in the person of your neighbor? Is it not dust? Do you grudge it to Me Who has created all things, Who can turn earth and stones into bread, and can bring forth water from a rock? Be always with Me and in Me, and you shall be always at peace and joyful. Has your trust in Me ever been in vain? Have I not always given you tranquility and new life?

If you share your prosperity with your neighbor, if you have it in common with him, then all God’s blessings will be in common with you. Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you… All Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine. (Jn 15:7, 17:10).

When you forbid the Devil in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, then His name, the sweetest to us, and the most terrible and grievous to the demons, itself creates power, like a two-edged sword. Equally, if you ask anything of the Heavenly Father, or do anything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, then the heavenly Father, for the sake of the name of His beloved Son, shall give you all things in the Holy Ghost, in the sacraments, if you fulfill His commandments, and will in no wise consider your unworthiness; for wherever the name of God is made use of with faith, there it creates powers: for the very name of God is power.

Some persons ask: What is the use of mentioning the names of the departed or living in prayer for them? God being omniscient Himself, knows their names and the needs of each one. But those who speak thus forget, or do not know, the importance of prayer, do not know the importance of every word said from the whole heart; they forget that the justice and mercy of God are moved by our heartfelt prayer which the Lord, in His goodness, imputes to the merit of the living or the departed themselves, as to the members of the one body of the Church. They do not know that also the Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven (Heb 12:23), in her love continually prays to God for us, and expressly mentions before God the names of those who pray for them—equal for equal. We make mention of their names, and they of ours. Whilst he who does not lovingly remember his brethren in prayer, will not himself be remembered, and does not deserve to be mentioned. Even one word of faith and love means much in prayer. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (Jas 5:16).

When we pray for the living and for the departed, and mention them by name, we must pronounce these names lovingly, and from the whole heart, as though we carried in our souls the persons whose names we mention, even as a nurse cherisheth her children (1Thes 2:7), remembering that they are our members, and members of the Lord’s body. (Eph 4:25; 30). It is not right to stand before God and merely run over their names with the tongue without the heart’s participation and love. We must remember that God sees into the heart; that the persons for whom we pray also require from us brotherly love and sympathy as a Christian duty.

There is a great difference between the apathetic repetition of names and their hearty remembrance: the one is as far from the other as heaven from earth. However, above all, the name of the Lord Himself, that of His most pure Mother, and those of the holy angels and saints, must always be pronounced from a pure heart with burning faith and love. In general, the words of the prayer must not be merely run over with the tongue as if we were turning over the leaves of a book or counting money, the water must flow like a stream of living water from its source—they should be the sincere voice of the heart, not a strange, borrowed garment.

Have the same attention and respect for the Word as you have for the living man, and firmly believe that the word of God is quick and powerful as a living being, as an angel, and that, by reason of its spiritual fineness, it is piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb 4:12). The word of God is God Himself; and therefore when you speak, believe that you have to do with living, and not with dead beings, with active, and not with inert and powerless ones. Know that you should pronounce every word with faith and assurance. The words are living pearls. Neither cast ye your pearls before swine. (Mt 7:6).

During prayer, it is necessary, in the first place, that the object of the prayer should be definitely expressed, or at least, that there should be a clear sense of it and desire for it in the heart; in the second place, it is necessary that this desire should be expressed with feeling and lively trust in the mercy of the Lord or in that of the Mother of God ; in the third place, there must be a firm intention not to sin in the future, and to fulfill God’s will in everything. Thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. (Jn 5:14).

When you pray for anything, either to the Lord or to the most-pure Mother of God, or to the angels and saints, asking their intercession before God for yourself or for others, then consider the words. Express your petitions, your needs, as the very things, the very matter, for which you ask the Lord, and believe that you have already a sure pledge of receiving the objects of your prayer, in the very words by which these objects are designated. For instance: when you pray for health for yourself or for someone else, look upon the word health as the very thing itself, as the very deed; believe that you already have it by the mercy and omnipotence of God, for the word itself, the name, may in an instant become deed with the Lord, and you will unfailingly receive that which you ask for in return for your unshaken faith. Ask, and it shall be given you. (Mt 7:7). What things soever you desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them; and ye shall have them. (Mk 11:24).

Do not pay attention to the darkness, fire, and distress proceeding from the enemy during prayer, and steadfastly trust with all your heart in the very words of the prayer, being assured that the treasures of the Holy Ghost are concealed in them—that is, truth, light, life-giving fire, forgiveness of sins, expansion, peace and joy of the heart, and blessedness.

The great names: the Most Holy Trinity, or the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, called upon with lively, hearty faith and reverence, or thought of in the soul, are God Himself, and bring into our soul God Himself in Three Persons. But of God, and through Him, and to Him, are all things. (Rom 11:36): therefore, if you are united to God the Trinity by lively faith and virtue, especially by meekness, humility, and mercy, ask of Him whatever you desire, whatever the Holy Ghost teaches you to ask, and it shall be given unto you, either quickly, in a moment, in an hour, or after some time, according to the judgment of God’s great wisdom.

Desire of Me and I shall give thee. (Pss 2:8). Everything that you ask for is certainly less, infinitely less, than the Giver Himself, as it derives its existence from Him. And, as the Giver Himself is an infinite, incomplex Being, and can in some manner be comprised in one single thought of ours, in one single word, then believe that one single word of yours, one single petition concerning the fulfillment of anything, can at a sign from the Lord immediately become a thing or a deed. He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. (Pss 33:9). Remember the wonders that Moses worked, remember how that man of God was a god to Pharaoh, and how instantaneously at his word, or at a movement of his hand, or of his staff, everything either changed or appeared. O great God, most glorified God, God of wonders, God of unspeakable mercy, bountifulness, and love to man, glory to Thee always, both now and forever, and unto ages of ages!

Spiritual pride manifests itself by the fact that a proud man dares to make himself a judge of religion and of the Church, and says: “I do not believe in this, and I do not acknowledge this; this I find superfluous, that unnecessary, and this strange or absurd.” Spiritual pride also manifests itself in boastfulness, in the proud man’s pretended knowledge of everything, whilst in reality he knows very little or his spiritual eyes are entirely blind. “That is not worth reading,” he says; “it is all well-known; these sermons are not worth reading; they contain the one same thing which I already know.” Human pride also manifests itself to a great extent when an ordinary mortal dares to compare himself with God’s saints, and does not see their great and wonderful perfections acquired by their own exploits, with the assistance of the grace of God; perfections which God Himself has crowned and glorified in them. Such a man says: “Why should I reverence them, and especially why should I pray to them? They are men like me; I pray to God alone.” And he does not consider that God Himself commanded us to ask the prayers of the righteous for ourselves. For him will I accept. (Job 42:8).

Spiritual pride also manifests itself by insensibility to our sins, by the Pharisee’s self-justification and self-praise, by insensibility to God’s mercies, by ingratitude to God for all that is good, by not feeling the need of praising God’s greatness. All those who do not pray to the Almighty God, to the God of all spirits and of all flesh (prayer from the Burial Service), to their Life, do not pray by the reason of their secret pride.

If, when praying to the Mother of God you do not find due reverence for Her in your heart, and feel evil and blasphemous thoughts, then say the following words of praise worthily applied to Her: Thou, our Lady, art all light, all holiness, all mercy, all wisdom; Thou, as the Mother of the Almighty, canst do all things; Thou art ever one and the same, all-perfect as the Mother of the all-perfect King of Glory!

Unbelief betrays itself by the fact that it has nothing in common with truth; an unbelieving heart is restless, anxious, weak, inconsistent, whilst a believing one is, on the contrary, tranquil, blissful, great, and firm.

When you pray to the Lord, or to our Lady, or to the angels and saints, do not ascribe any difficulty to the Lord, to our Lady, to the angels and saints, in fulfilling your petitions, or the petitions of other believers; instead, believe that it is as easy and simple for the Lord to give any blessing to His people, and equally so by the prayers of His most pure Mother and of the angels and saints as it is for you to think of it. Besides this, as God is ever-flowing, infinite goodness, he desires and ever seeks to impart His goodness to His Creatures, if only they turn to Him with faith, hope, and love, like children to their father, recognizing their sinfulness, poverty, need, blindness, and infirmity without Him.

When you pray to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost—to the one God in the Trinity—do not seek Him outside yourself, but contemplate Him within, as dwelling in you, entirely penetrating and knowing you. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. (1Cor 3:16). And I will walk among you, and will be your God. (2Cor 6:16, 18). I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and will be a Father unto you. (Lev 26:12). O Lord, Thou hast searched me out and known me (Pss 139:1), says David.

When during prayer you doubt in the possibility of the fulfillment of any of your petitions, then remember that to God it is possible to give you all things, excepting direct evil, which is only proper to the Devil—that the word itself, or your petition itself concerning anything, is already a sure guarantee on your part that its fulfillment is possible; for if you can only think of something, either possible or impossible to yourself, then this “something” is absolutely possible to the Lord, to Whom the thought is already deed, if He pleases to fulfill it. Even for yourself the blessing already exists in the word, and only does not exist in the deed; but in order to fulfill a petition, God has the Son, the Creator, and the Holy Ghost the Accomplisher. To the possibility of accomplishing all things, add His infinite mercy, by which He is the ever-flowing source of being, as well as of all the gifts of being.

He is the God of gifts, the God of mercy and bounties. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (Mt 7:7). Add to this God’s great wisdom, by which, in bestowing gifts upon us, He chooses that which is best for us, and which corresponds to our spiritual and bodily state. On your part is required only firm, undoubting assurance in the possibility of the Lord’s fulfillment of your petition, and also that your prayer should absolutely be good, for good, and not for anything evil. Your Father, which is in heaven, it is said, shall give good things to them that ask Him. (Mt 7:11).

When praying to God, we must have such firm, unshaken faith that doubt in anything would be difficult and even impossible, and therefore, we must have inscribed in our hearts the words: With God all things are possible. (Mk 10:27). We must also have the lively assurance that God fulfils everything; that His Being is love and mercy; that His business and, as though, His nature is to create, to give, to forgive, to be bountiful, to fulfill our requests. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive. (Mt 21:22). Also, we must carefully watch our heart, that it should not lie, that every word should come out of its depths: Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord! (Pss 130:1); that is, we must be most careful of the truth of the prayer, of that sincerity, which makes all the words of the prayer composed by others our own words, and which esteems every word as true.

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.