58) Do not say: I am a sinner, I have no boldness, I do not dare to pray. He also has boldness who thinks that he has no boldness; On the contrary, he who thinks that he has boldness takes away the power of boldness, like the Pharisee. Whoever considers himself rejected and bold, will be heard more like a publican. See how many examples you have of this, to Syrophoenicis, the publican, the thief on the cross, the friend in the parable, who asked for three loaves of bread and received them not out of friendship, but because of the persistence of his petition. Any one of these, if he had said, "I am a sinner, I am ashamed, and therefore I cannot come with a petition," he would not have received anything. But since each of them did not look at the multitude of his sins, but at the riches of God's love for mankind, he became bold and took on boldness, and being a sinner, he began to ask for that which was above his dignity, and received what he desired. Remembering all this, let us pray unceasingly, with sobriety, boldness, with good hopes, with much zeal. Let us pray for both enemies and friends, and of course we will receive all that is useful. For the Giver is a lover of mankind, and it is not so much that we desire to receive as He desires to give [3, 370-1].

59) Although you are outside the church, cry out and say: "Have mercy on me!" not only with your lips, but crying out from your heart. For God hears also those who cry out to Him in silence. It is not a place that is required, but a well-disposed heart. Jeremiah was in the pit, and had God with him; Daniel sat in a pit with lions, and was covered by God's favor: three youths, cast into the fiery furnace by songs of praise, bowed down to mercy of God; the thief was crucified, but the cross did not prevent him from opening paradise; Job sat on the festering pit, and made God merciful to himself; Jonah was in the belly of a whale, and God heard him. Even if you are in the bathhouse, even if you are on the way, even on your bed, and wherever you are, pray. You yourself are the temple of God, do not look for another place for prayer: you only need a prayerful mood of mind and heart. The sea was in front, the Egyptians behind, Moses in the middle. Prayer was extremely constrained, and yet the prayer was most extensive. The Egyptians were chasing behind, the sea was ahead, prayer was in the middle. Moses said nothing, but God said to him: "Why do you cry out to Me" (Exodus 14:15)? My lips did not speak, but my heart cried out. "And you, beloved, always and everywhere have recourse to God!" God is not a man to go to Him in a certain place. He is always and everywhere near. If you want to ask a person for something, ask what he is doing, what he is doing, or resting. Going to God, there is no need to investigate anything like this. Wherever you come to Him and call on Him, He hears. Say: have mercy on me, and God is already near. "Yet saith unto thee, saith He Thyself, the river, Behold Az" (Isaiah 58:9). O voice full of humanity? Nor does he wait for the end of prayer; before you have finished your prayers, you will already receive a gift [3, 458-9].60) When I say to someone: pray, ask God, beseech Him," another answers: I asked once, twice, three, ten, twenty times, and still I do not receive what I ask for. "Don't retreat, brother, until you get it." Let the end of prayer be the receipt of what is asked. Then cease when thou hast received; or better then, do not cease, but continue to pray. Until you receive, pray that you may receive; and when you receive it, pray thanks for what you have received [3, 458].

61) Many enter the church, read thousands of verses, and come out; but they don't remember what they read. His lips moved, but his ears did not hear. Do you not hear your own prayer, but do you want God to hear your prayer? "I have knelt, you say; but your mind wandered outside. Your body was inside the church, and your thought was outside it. The lips said a prayer, and the mind counted profits, pondered transactions and the exchange of goods, surveyed the fields and other estates, and conversed with friends. The evil devil, knowing how useful prayer is for us, attacks us with his thoughts during it. Often we lie idly on our bed, and have no thoughts. But they came to pray, and their thoughts were innumerable. It is the enemy who is trying to make us depart from prayer with nothing [Ibid.].

62) You see, beloved, that everything written in the Divine Scriptures has been handed over to memory for no other reason than for our benefit and the salvation of the human race. Learning from it, each of us finds and inflicts his own appropriate remedies on the wounds. For this reason everyone has access to it, and it is convenient for everyone who wishes to find the medicine required for his affliction, to make use of it, and to receive the quickest recovery; only let him not reject the proposed cure, but accept it with willing submission. For there is not a single disease that seizes human nature, either spiritual or physical, for which there is no cure. And look! Whoever enters here, tormented by sorrow and oppressed by the circumstances of life, and because of this overcome by faint-heartedness; But when thou didst enter thither, and immediately hearing the words of the prophet: "Thou art sorrowful, O my soul, and hast thou troubled me? Trust in God, that we may trust in Him, for the salvation of my face and my God" (Psalm 41:6, 4), receives sufficient consolation, and departs shaking away all faint-heartedness. Others, tormented by extreme poverty, grieve and are tormented, especially seeing how wealth flows to others, and they puff up and come out with such pomp. But he hears the words of the Prophet: "Cast thy sorrow upon the Lord, and He shall nourish thee" (Psalm 54:23). And again: "Do not be afraid, when a man becomes rich, or when the glory of his house increases: for when he dies, he will not take it all" (Psalm 48:17, 18), and he is inspired to endure his lot good-naturedly. Some again grieve, having been subjected to slander and slander, and does not count life in life, finding no human help anywhere. But this one also receives a lesson from the same Prophet — in such circumstances, not to resort to human defense, but to act as he says about himself: "I will slander me, and I pray" (Psalm 108:4). Do you see where he seeks help and help? Others speak, weave intrigues, slanders, and calumnies; but I have recourse to the impenetrable wall, to the secure anchor, to the unwavering harbor — to prayer, by which all difficulties are made easy and manageable for me. Still others, being rejected and despised by those who helped him before, and abandoned by friends, are troubled and troubled by thoughts. But he, too, if he wishes to come here, will hear the words of this blessed prophet that he needs: "My friends and my sincere ones are right near to me, and my neighbors are far from me: and they that seek my soul are in need, and they that seek evil words of vain things, and all day long I teach the flatterers" (Psalm 37:12, 13). Do you see how they wove calumnies until their deaths, and waged war incessantly? "For all day means all life. What did he do when they slandered him so much and built such snares for him? "And I," he says, "do not hear as a deaf man, and do not open your mouth as a man: and do not hear, nor open your mouth" (v. 14, 15). Do you see the abundance of wisdom, how he, holding on to opposite paths, gained the upper hand? Those snares were weaving, and he stopped his ears so as not to even hear about it. They were all the time sharpening their tongues and learning vanities and intrigues, and he disarmed their mania (evil designs) by silence. Why did he act in this way, and when they were plotting against him, he behaved as if he were deaf and dumb, having neither hearing nor language? Listen to what he himself says about the reason for such wisdom. "For in Thee, O Lord, I trust" (v. 16). Since, he says, I have placed all my hope in Thee, I have no more concern for what they do. For Thy one beckoning is sufficient to scatter and render fruitless all their slanders and snares, and not to allow anything they have prepared to pass into action. You see how in every need, misfortune and sorrow, it is possible to receive suitable healing here and depart from here, shaking off all worldly sorrow. For this reason I beseech you: come here more often and listen carefully to what is read here from the Divine Scriptures, and not only here to listen to the Scriptures, but also to take up the sacred books at home and diligently assimilate to yourself what you read. For great benefit will come from this [4, 261-2].

63) Prayer must be combined with fasting. And that this is truly so, listen to what Christ says: "This kind shall come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting" (Matt. 17:20). And it is written about the Apostles that, after the souls of the disciples in Derbe, Lystra and Lycaonia had been confirmed in the faith, they prayed with fasting, and committed them to the Lord (Acts 14:2, 3). Again the Apostle says: "Do not deprive yourselves of one another, but by agreement until the time comes, that ye may continue in fasting and prayer" (1 Corinthians 7:5). Do you see how fasting needs assistance from this side? And then they pray more soberly, since then the mind is more quickly moving, not being burdened by the evil burden of passions [4, 279].

64) Prayer is a great weapon, a great fence, a great treasure, a great refuge, a safe refuge; only if you approach the Lord soberly, and having gathered your mind from everywhere, in such a mood do we enter before Him, in no way allowing the enemy of our salvation to creep up to us. For he, knowing that at this time, having confessed our sins and shown our wounds to the physician, can receive perfect healing, attacks us more strongly, and uses all sorts of tricks to discourage us from prayer and plunge us into negligence and absent-mindedness. Wherefore let us be sober, I beseech you, and, knowing the intrigues of the enemy, at this time to try to repel him, as if seeing him inherent and standing before our eyes, and renouncing every thought that disturbs our minds, to prostrate our grief entirely, making our prayer a true prayer, so that not only the tongue may pronounce the words of the prayer, but also the mind may follow the words of the prayer. But if the tongue pronounces words, and the mind wanders outside, now reviewing things at home, now imagining deeds in the marketplace, then there will be no benefit to us, and even more so condemnation. St. Paul inspires us to pray at all times in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18) — not only with the tongue, but also in the soul itself — with the Spirit. Let our prayers be spiritual, let our thoughts sober and let our minds stretch out together with our words [4, 280].

65) Prayer is a great blessing. If, in conversing with a virtuous person, we receive no small benefit; then he who is vouchsafed to converse with God, what good will he not receive? For prayer is a conversation with God. That this is so, listen to what the Prophet says: "Let my conversation delight in Him" (Psalm 103:84), i.e., let my speech with God be made pleasing to Him [Ibid.].

66) Can not God grant us what we need before we ask? But He awaits our prayer, so that He may take from Him an occasion to righteously vouchsafe us His special providence [Ibid.].

67) Though we receive what we ask for, though we do not receive it, let us remain in prayer. And we will be grateful not only when we receive it, but also when we do not receive it. For not to receive when God wills it is no less good; How to get it. For we do not know what is good for us, for God knows. Wherefore we consider both receiving and not receiving to be equal good, and for both we must thank God. "Don't be surprised that we don't know what is good for us. And Paul, this contemplator of the wondrous mysteries, did not know what was more useful to him, and in ignorance he prayed for what was useless. There was something oppressive to him, and he prayed to deliver him from it. And he did not pray once, but said: "For this the Lord prayed three times" (2 Corinthians 12:8). But he did not receive what he asked for. What then? Was it hard for him? mournfully? unpleasantly? Not at all. The Lord said to him, "My grace shall take possession of thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." And St. Paul replied to this in this way: "For I will boast more sweetly in my infirmities" (v. 9). Not only, he says, do I not seek to be delivered from that which burdens me, but it is sweet for me even to boast about it. Do you see how grateful this soul is? Do you see what her love for God is? — Listen to what the same Apostle says in another place: "For what we pray for, as befits us, we do not know" (Romans 8:26). It is impossible, he says, for us people to know everything exactly. Why is it necessary to leave to the Creator of our nature the definition of what is useful for us, and then to accept with joy and full pleasure what He approves, not looking at the appearance of what happens, but at the fact that it is pleasing to the Lord [4: 280-1].

68) Let it be our constant task to be diligent in prayer and not to lose heart at the slowness of hearing, but to show patient good humor. Let us accustom ourselves to clinging to prayer — and to pray day and night, especially at night, when no one bothers us with business, when thoughts settle down, when everything around is silent, and the mind has complete freedom to ascend to the Physician of souls. If the blessed David, the king and the prophet at the same time, being so busy and weary with work, devoted midnight to prayer, as he himself says: "At midnight I confess to Thee the fate of thy righteousness" (Psalm 118:62), then when we spend a private and short life, what can we say in our justification if we do not act as he did? Let us also imitate him, simple people, the king, who lead a life of little business and peace to him who, in diadem and purple, surpassed the life of monks. For listen to what else he says in another place: "My tears were my bread day and night" (Psalm 41:4). Do you see the soul that abides in unceasing contrition? My food, he says, my bread, my table was nothing else but my tears, shed day and night. And again: "Thou shalt labor with my sighing, I will wash my bed every night" (Psalm 6:7).

"At midnight," say Acts, "Paul and Silas prayed to God" (16:25). David spent his whole life in the kingdom in a diadem in tears and prayer. The Apostle, caught up to the third heaven, vouchsafed the ineffable mysteries of revelation, while in chains, at midnight lifted up prayers and songs to the Lord. And the king, rising at midnight, confessed to the Lord; and the Apostles at midnight performed hymns and diligent prayers. We will imitate them, protecting our lives from all unpleasant and calamitous things by the continuity of our prayers. If you have your mind cleansed of impure passions, then be you in the marketplace, be at home, be on the road, be in the judgment seat, be at sea, be in the workshop, and wherever you are, calling on God everywhere, you can obtain what you ask for [4, 281-2].

69) Hannah, Samuel's mother, inspired by love for God, lifted up her mind to heaven, and as if in vain, prayed to Him with all her warmth. What did she say? At first nothing, but before the beginning of the prayer she made deep sighs and tearing lamentations, and let out streams of hot tears. As dry and hard earth, watered and softened by rain falling on it, becomes capable of producing fruit, so it was with this woman. Softened by weeping, the soul gave birth to a powerful prayer: "Touched in soul, pray to the Lord: Adonai, Lord of hosts" (1 Samuel 1:10, 11). Not with one word did she call upon Him, but with many, applied to Him, showing her love and ardent affection for Him. The prayer itself was inspired by the painful sorrow of the heart. She was soon heard, because her petition was written extremely reasonably. Such are the prayers that usually come from a soul torn apart by sorrow. Instead of charters she had a mind, instead of a pen a tongue, instead of ink tears. Why is her petition read to this day: for the writings written with such ink remain indelible [4, 640].

70) There is nothing equal to prayer, nothing is stronger than faith. Both were shown to us by Anna. For having approached God with these gifts, she received all that she desired: she corrected her barren nature, and took away the shame of childlessness, and stopped the reproaches of the jealous (of her couple), and to great boldness, when she plucked from a stone that did not bear fruit. You have heard and know how she prayed and asked, how she begged and received, how she gave birth, brought up, and dedicated her Samuel to God: so that it will not sin who calls this woman the mother and at the same time the father of the child. Her prayers, tears, and faith were the beginning of a birth, though not a seedless one. Men will imitate her, and women imitate her. This wife is a teacher of both kinds. Which of you are barren, do not despair; Who have become mothers, raise children like her. Let us all be jealous of the wisdom of this woman before birth, faith in birth, and care after birth [4, 643].

71) "Multiply those who pray before the Lord" (1 Samuel 1:12). Two virtues are indicated in Anna by these words: patient abiding in prayer and cheerfulness of mind; the first with the word, "multiply," and the second, with the word, "before the Lord." We all pray, but not all before the Lord.