ARHIVELE OLTENIEI - Universitatea din Craiova

170Carmen Popescunot fulfill our wishes (which we think appropriate at the time, not knowing thatthey are in fact harmful, to us or to others). Prayer should be insistent andhopeful. The parable of the unjust judge is very relevant in this respect: „ Healso spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up, saying,"There was a judge in a certain city who didn't fear God, and didn't respect man.A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, 'Defend me frommy adversary!' He wouldn't for a while, but afterward he said to himself,'Though I neither fear God, nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me,I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.' TheLord said, "Listen to what the unrighteous judge says. Won't God avenge hischosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercisespatience with them? I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless,when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18, 1-8).But it is also required from us to be watchful and listening, to be, eachone of us, a response to God`s call. Amen („So be it!”) is the symbol of thisresponse. Liturgy is an “entrance into the presence of Christ…. an entrance intoa forth dimension which allows us to see the ultimate reality of life… the arrivalat a vantage point from which we can see more deeply into the reality of theworld.” 21 Clear examples of „obstinate” prayer are: „Lord, have mercy on us”,the litanies, especially „the Litany of Fervent Supplication”, and, of course, thehesychast prayer. One cannot either forget one of the ancients and most beautifulhymns of Orthodoxy, consecrated to the Mother of God: "It is truly meet to blessyou, O Theotokos, ever blessed and most pure, and the Mother of our God. Morehonorable than the cherubim, beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim,without corruption you gave birth to God, the Word. True Theotokos, wemagnify you." This hymn is repeated several times in the canon of thecommunal or the personal prayer. The mystery (and sacrament) of communionin prayer relies on the mystery of the person. Our God is a personal God, and notan impersonal absolute as in other traditions, and He gave us the gift of life andthe chance to become unique persons. So, prayer is dialogue, is interpersonalcommunication and not a technique for spiritual accomplishment. Nor is“Jesus`s prayer” a mantra that leads the performer to illumination by sheerperseverance. God`s word feeds us and it is also our main defense againsttemptation. When Jesus, after fasting forty days and forty nights in the desert,was tempted by the devil to speak and make the stones loaves of bread, Heanswered: “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every wordwhich goes out through God`s mouth.” (Matthew 4, 4).When thinking in this perspective, the need to be connected to thesurrounding noise of the world (to talk, to exchange information, to be together) isno longer overwhelming. If God -The Word created the world, then everythingmakes sense, and everything talks: and it talks to you, very intimately. Moreover,as many religious people declare, the entire universe appears to be a love letter21 A. Schmemann, For the Life of the World, p. 53.