Oración , Preghiera , Priére , Prayer , Gebet , Oratio, Oração de Jesus: Elder Porphyrios continually emphasizes that our first thought should always be love of God.

Oración , Preghiera , Priére , Prayer , Gebet , Oratio, Oração de Jesus

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CATECISMO DA IGREJA CATÓLICA:

2666. Mas o nome que tudo encerra é o que o Filho de Deus recebe na sua encarnação: JESUS. O nome divino é indizível para lábios humanos mas, ao assumir a nossa humanidade, o Verbo de Deus comunica-no-lo e nós podemos invocá-lo: «Jesus», « YHWH salva» . O nome de Jesus contém tudo: Deus e o homem e toda a economia da criação e da salvação. Rezar «Jesus» é invocá-Lo, chamá-Lo a nós. O seu nome é o único que contém a presença que significa. Jesus é o Ressuscitado, e todo aquele que invocar o seu nome, acolhe o Filho de Deus que o amou e por ele Se entregou.

2667. Esta invocação de fé tão simples foi desenvolvida na tradição da oração sob as mais variadas formas, tanto no Oriente como no Ocidente. A formulação mais habitual, transmitida pelos espirituais do Sinai, da Síria e de Athos, é a invocação: «Jesus, Cristo, Filho de Deus, Senhor, tende piedade de nós, pecadores!». Ela conjuga o hino cristológico de Fl 2, 6-11 com a invocação do publicano e dos mendigos da luz (14). Por ela, o coração sintoniza com a miséria dos homens e com a misericórdia do seu Salvador.

2668. A invocação do santo Nome de Jesus é o caminho mais simples da oração contínua. Muitas vezes repetida por um coração humildemente atento, não se dispersa num «mar de palavras», mas «guarda a Palavra e produz fruto pela constância». E é possível «em todo o tempo», porque não constitui uma ocupação a par de outra, mas é a ocupação única, a de amar a Deus, que anima e transfigura toda a acção em Cristo Jesus.

sábado, 12 de novembro de 2011

Elder Porphyrios continually emphasizes that our first thought should always be love of God.

What is Divine Love?

We have been though a long fasting period, experienced the Crucifixion of our Lord and then the joy of His Resurrection and the promise of our own resurrection. The joy of this celebration cannot be fully expressed. We find that there is a love within us that no one can take away from us. It is the Christ who lives within each of us.

Elder Porphyrios says,

Christ is everything. He is our love. He is the object of our desire. This passionate longing for Christ is a love that cannot be taken away. This is where joy flows from.

How do you experience this joy? When we encounter Christ within we feel as if we are intoxicated with spiritual wine of the best vintage. We find it difficult to contain and impossible to express. The challenge we all face after this great celebration is to let his joy flow out from us in an outpouring of our love for each other.

This joy can be maintained though an Orthodox Way of Life. Review it. Continually evaluate your current activities and gradually bring them in line with this joy you experience from the Pascha celebration.

Elder Porphyrios says,

Fast as much as you can, make as many prostrations as you can, attend as many vigils as you like, but be joyful. Have Christ's joy. It is the joy that lasts forever, that brings eternal happiness. It is the joy of our Lord that gives assured serenity, serene delight and full happiness. All joyful joy that surpasses every joy. Christ desires and delights in scattering joy, in enriching his faithful with joy. I pray that your joy may be full.

Quotes from Wounded by Love, p 96

July (28)

The Way of Love: Christ is Our Love, Our Desire

One of the ways Christians seek unity with God is by what I term the Way of Love. This is where the emphasis is paced on the love of Christ. It is the way of the heart. It is a spiritual path following the first commandment:

“You hall love the Lord with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind” (Matt 22:37-8).

One who lived and taught this approach was Elder Porphyrios. His teaching has been recored for us in the wonderful book put together from his talks titled, Wounded by Love.

Elder Porphyrios continually emphasizes that our first thought should always be love of God. He says,

Christ is joy, the true light, happiness. Christ is our hope. Our relation to Christ is love, eros, passion, enthusiasm, longing for the divine. Christ is everything. He is our love. He is the object of our desire. This passionate longing for Christ is a love that cannot be taken away. This is where joy flows from.

The Way of Love is the unending focus on love of Christ. Elder Porphyrios' method, is nothing more than loving Christ––Loving Him so much that nothing else takes precedence. In this way we overcome our ego, passions and evil. It is an all consuming love. Our mind has no room left for anything else but Christ.

He says,

Imagine that the person you love is Christ, Christ is in your mind, Christ is in your heart, Christ is in your whole being, Christ is everywhere.

He chooses to use the term “eros” for love. The term eros is commonly used to refer to a passionate, intense desire for someone. For Plato eros is a common desire we have for a transcendental beauty-–the beauty that exists in the world of Forms or Ideas. Platonic love is a love of the form of beauty-–not of a particular individual, but the element they posses of true (Ideal) beauty. For Plato, eros is initially the love felt for a person, but with contemplation it becomes an appreciation of the beauty within that person, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself.

In the case of Elder Porphryios we can think of both of these ideas. He is passionate in his love for Christ. He loves God with intensity, both as a person and also as an ideal for human kind. By his use of the word "eros" he puts the emphasis on the all consuming passion we must have for Christ.

In Greek Mythology Eros is the young son of Aphrodite depicted as a winged boy, considered to be both the most beautiful of the gods. When Eros falls in love with Psyche his radiance is such that for her own safety, he insists that she must never look upon his face, and he only visits her at night. Elder Porphyrios also sees Christ as the most beautiful of persons with a radiance that permeates all with his love and he received a radiance and gifts of the Holy Spirit. There are books filled with their testimonies to his holiness.

He says,

When you find Christ, you are satisfied, you desire nothing else, you find peace. You become a different person… Christ is in all your thoughts, in all your actions. You have grace and you can endure everything for Christ.

Saint Theophan the Recluse used the term "zeal" to express a similar thought to "eros". He wrote,

The testimony of this life that is visible or can be felt within us is the ardor of active zeal to lease God alone in a Christian manner, with total self-sacrifice...

The Way of Love is an insatiable desire to be with our lover who is Christ alone.

Reference: Wounded By Love pp 96 -97

August (28)

In Prayer What Is Meant By "Simplicity of Heart"?

Be mindful of the Lord in goodness and seek Him in simplicity of heart; for He is found with those who do not tempt Him, and appears to those who are not unfaithful to him. Wisdom 1:1 - 2

Elder Porphyrios tells a story about a converstion on prayer he had with a visiting Bishop.

He asked the Bishop, "What is meant by praying 'in simplicity of heart and artlessness?'"

The Bishop replied, "Praying with simplicity."

The elder then asked, "And do you understand what that means, your Emenince?"

He responded, "Yes I do."

The Elder then said, "Well, I don't. It is a mystery. It's something that happens only with divine grace."

The Bishop replied, "You are quite right. I don't understand either. An I'm grateful to you for reminding me that simplicity and artlessness can only be understood and achieved though divine grace."

The lesson is that true prayer cannot be gained by any external set of rules or method. It only comes based on a humble loving relationship with God. Prayer is mystical and comes with grace.

The Elder tells us,

Simplicity and gentleness are a very saintly mode of spiritual life, but you cannot learn this in an external way. It must suffuse itself mystically within you so that your soul embraces this mode of life through the grace of God.