Metropolitan Naum: PRAYER FOR THE WHOLE WORLD
~+~
I once told you: “If we believe and know that we are nobody and have nothing, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is everything to us – what we are and what we have, then, the awareness of our condition we manifest by the effort (struggle) of constant focus and maintaining of our mind on the words of the prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me” that is, by concentrating on His name in the prayer.
There is no way other than this prayerful struggle, to show that we are conscious that the Lord Jesus Christ is everything to us – including, repentance, pain of compassion, and divine love in the prayer, and that we have nothing and we are nothing. The fruit of the completeness of the mind in the prayer, (of this consciousness) is the gift of tears.
What exactly does this mean, only prayer can reveal.
That is why St. Gregory Palamas encourages us in the struggle of the prayer as the only teacher of the prayer. We can only see the extent to which we are nobody and nothing by prayerfully standing before the God-Man Jesus Christ and His Mother. We will also find out how much we are loved.
But that is not enough. For the prayer to be as perfect as it can be, it must not be said only for oneself, but it must include the whole world – every human being; from the present, from the past, and from the future. In fact, we should never pray for anything special for us, except repentance, even though the very act of praying for the whole world is repentance in action (deed).
That is why I also explained to you that the one and only cure for passive sociopathy – this modern pandemic, is the prayer for the whole world. The time is such that all of us should turn to constant prayer for the whole world, and this should be united in this ideal whenever we start praying. Only then our prayer will become complete, serious and repentant. God only hears such a prayer. Only in this way will we develop personal compassion.
When we stand in prayer with the consciousness that Christ is our repentance and our everything, then the seriousness and repentance arise from that awareness, and when we pray for the whole world, and especially for those who suffer in reality, then the seriousness, repentance and the concentration come to us, from The God-Man Christ, but also somehow naturally, come from our humanity – which is the best combination.
In this way of prayer we harmonise our view with God’s view of the world; we build our personal-catholic (universal) consciousness. So, whenever we pray, we should pray for all people – especially for the enemies, and for the whole world, and for their salvation, because we pray to the One Who created them and Who cares for each person and for the whole world. 
Our prayer, in those moments, is in harmony with His providence and Christ’s Plan (Dispensation) for the salvation of every man and of the whole world (“Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do” Luke 23, 34). Our prayer is also in harmony with the action of God’s uncreated grace; and with the prayer of our Most-Holy Bogorodica (Birth-Giver-of-God) and the Ever-Virgin Mary; and with the inexpressible sighs of the Holy Spirit in our hearts – Abba, Father! – for the whole creation (Gal. 4: 6). The fruit of such prayer is the gift of tears for the whole world.
When the purpose of the prayer (the prayer in which we constantly call on the name of the God-Man Jesus Christ) is God, that is, the community of every man and everything created in God, then the prayer, taken by the Spirit, is uttered in repentance; and it cleanses, opens, and spiritually expands our hearts. The prayer for the whole world heals us and all people. And vice versa, if the goal of the prayer is ourselves and our needs, then prayer is first said with fervent blood, then mechanically, and finally prayer gets extinguish – after it remains unanswered.
When we harmonise our view and life struggle (labour) with the view of God and His Dispensation – with the baptismal sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son, then we will enter into the Spirit – of the prayer “Our Father”, into the area of the Kingdom, within us, and we will receive the gift of the prayer of the mind in the heart.
One piece of practical advice: despite the fact that whenever we pray, we will pray for the good and salvation of the whole world, and whenever we hear some news about some evil and someone’s suffering, we should always receive that information and process it properly. (“I am guilty for everything”) and send it with a prayer for good, for God’s comfort and healing to the sufferers in reality
It is understandable that this way of praying should be supported by concrete help, by deed – in accordance to our strength. The regular participation in the Holy Mysteries of the Church should not be even mentioned – it is also understandable.
Most-Holy Bogorodica (Birth-Giver-of-God), save us!
Metropolitan of Strumica Naum
(05.09.2020 15:38)
