Below is a vocal prayer that offers much to meditate upon (the bold type is added to assist you in starting a meditation). Before you read it, though, understand some its background. Pentecost is both a particular Feast Day and a time period in the Church calendar that spiritually, theologically, and psychologically affirms the role of the Holy Spirit within the Most Holy Trinity, as well as in our lives. During Vespers, on the evening of the same day we have celebrated the Divine Liturgical Feast of Pentecost, there is found a set of "Kneeling Prayers," which provide to us not only a succinct recitation of the theology of the Holy Trinity, but also a beautiful plea to heal and grow in union with God. What follows is the First Kneeling Prayer. Notice that it addresses the Father in a tone of awe, supplication, and desire for healing. This prayer is highly theological in that it recounts and summarizes creation, redemption, and sanctification as given through the persons of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. At the same time, it brings us to recognize our hurt, sin, and need for grace to grow ever closer to God. This is an excellent prayer to help with Catharsis. "O Lord, most pure, spotless, who art from everlasting, invisible, ineffable, unsearchable, unchanging, unsurpassable, immeasurable, long-suffering; who alone has immortality; who dwells in light unapproachable, who has made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that lies within; who grants unto all people their petitions before they ask: we pray to you and beseech you, O Master who loves mankind, the Father of our Lord, and God, and Savior Jesus Christ, who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of Mary the ever-virgin and exceedingly glorious Birth-giver of God; who first did teach in words and afterwards did manifest Himself in deeds, when He had suffered His redeeming Passion; who hast given unto us, they humble, and sinful, and unworthy servants, a command that we should offer supplications to you with bending of the neck and the knees, both for our own iniquities and for the ignorance of others; do thou, the same all-merciful God who loves mankind, hear us in that day when we shall call upon you, and more especially on this day of Pentecost, when, after our Lord Jesus Christ had ascended into heaven, and had sat down at the right hand of you, who are both His God and His Father, He did send down the Holy Spirit upon His holy disciples and apostles: which also did rest upon each of them, so that they were all filled with its inexhaustible grace, and did declare they majesty in diverse, unknown tongues, and did prophesy. "Wherefore, hearken now to us who pray unto thee, and remember us, humble and condemned as we are, and turn again the captivity of our souls, exercising they loving-kindness toward us who now offer up our petitions to you. Accept us who fall down before you, and who cry aloud to you, we have sinned! We have cloven to you even from our mother's womb: you are our God. But because we have passed our days in vanity, we have stripped ourselves of your aid, we have deprived ourselves of every valid defense. But confidently trusting in your bounties, we call unto you: remember not the sins of our youth and our ignorance; cleanse us from our secret sins; and do not forsake us in the days of our old age, when our strength fails us. Even until we return again to the earth, do not abandon us, vouchsafe us grace to have recourse unto you; and receive us, because of your favor and graciousness. Measure our wickedness according to the measure of your bounties. Set over against the multitude of our transgressions the abyss of your compassions. "Look down from your holiness on high, O Lord, upon your people present before you, who await your rich mercies. Visit us with your loving-kindness: deliver us from the assaults of the Evil One. Establish our life in your holy and sacred commandments. Commit your people unto an Angel, a faithful guardian. Gather us all into your Kingdom. Grant pardon unto those who put their trust in you. Put away from them and from us all sins. Purify us by the operation of the Holy Spirit; bring to nothing all the schemes of the enemy against us." - This prayer can be found in the Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church; compiled, translated, and arranged by Isabel Florence Hapgood; printed by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, 6th ed., 1983, p. 249. #HolySpirit #HolyTrinity #God #MotherofGod #JesusChrist #VocalPrayer #MeditativePrayer #Healing #Renewal #IntercessoryPrayer #continualprayer #KneelingPrayers

A meditation. Slowly read this prayer at least three times. Breathe deeply between each reading. Stop on the words that resonate in that nexus between your mind and heart. Consider their meaning. Ask God to transfigure you by allowing the Holy Spirit to flood your soul. Become what you truly are deep down inside. Breathe. "Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, present in all places and filling all things, Treasury of Goodness and Giver of Life: come abide in us. Cleanse us from every stain of sin and save our souls, O Gracious One." #HolySpirit #HolyTrinity #Comforter #MeditativePrayer #God #ContemplativePrayer #prayer #soul

No matter your circumstances, you can shift your life toward God. All it takes is a trust in the strength He has already given you. As it says in Sacred Scripture: "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation" (Isaiah 12:2). Say prayers. Meditate on Christ and the Holy Spirit in those prayers. Let God flood your soul. Contemplate Him. #SacredScripture #God #JesusChrist #HolySpirit #Strength #Trust

"...there is something which has originated directly from Satan. From him comes a vague timidity and fear that troubles the soul of a sinner at all times, and especially whenever he conceives of something good... Such a revelation of the intrigues of the evil one brings a sinner to understand that he is in wicked and hostile hands, that he has been fooled and duped to spite himself... As a consequence, there arise prudence, suspicion, and disgust towards both the cunning one and his inventions; that is, toward the vices and passions and toward the whole of one's former life. "From here it is not a long way to the transition that leads to the source of truth, good, and bliss - to God." - St. Theophan the Recluse, Turning the Heart to God, p. 33-34 (published separately, this is the second part of The Path to Salvation). #StTheophantheRecluse #Evil #Satan #SacredScripture #JesusChrist #Renewal #Awakening #Remember #Will

"This world - with its ideas, principles, rules, and in general, with all its order, which has been elevated to the status of an unalterable law - lays its heavy, dominating hand upon all its children. Consequently none of them even dares to think about rising up against it or spurning its power and authority. Everybody holds it in reverence, and with some timidity, adheres to its rules. Their breach is considered to be a criminal offense. The world is not a person, but its spirit somehow permeates the earth. This spirit influences us and binds us as with bonds. Obviously its power and authority are created by our thought; they are imaginary, not real or physical. Consequently, we need only to dispel this imaginary authority of the world, and the possibility of sobering from its charms will be near to us. "God's providential care for us acts in four distinct ways to dispel the illusions of this world" (St. Theophan the Recluse, Turning the Heart to God, p. 28; published separately, this is the second part of The Path to Salvation). First, God gives us nature. He also gives us the Church, which reveals the next world to us and teaches us how to contemplate the visible works of God in the here and now. Second, God provides us examples of people who are satisfied with prayer, contemplation, and the vision of God. These are people who are not satisfied with the "amusements" and "reassurances" of the world. Third, God exposes the "powerful" and the "exalted" as frauds when we witness their downfall. Fourth, God allows the world disappoint us, so we understand that "fame, honor, power, riches and amusements" are a "deception" that will not satisfy our deepest longing. God has showed you these things. Will you pay attention to what you have seen? Or will you choose to continue to participate in the lie? #StTheophantheRecluse #God #Nature #Church #Sacraments #ContemplativePrayer #Renewal #Redemption #Remember

"In order to awaken a sinner from his sleep, the divine saving-grace directs all its power towards the destruction of the main support upon which a man rests with all his selfishness. Saving-grace does the following: "For the one who is bound by the indulgence of the flesh, grace plunges him into illness and, enervating the flesh, gives the spirit freedom and strength to come to itself and become sober. "For the one who is fascinated by his own beauty and strength, grace deprives him of this beauty and keeps him in a constant state of exhaustion. "For the one who rests upon his authority and power, grace subjects him to bondage and humiliation. "For the one who greatly relies upon his wealth, it is taken away from him. "For the one who shows off his high knowledge and intelligence, he is disgraced and discredited as naïve and unknowing. "For the one who rests upon his valuable connections, they are broken. "For the one who pins his hopes on the 'eternity' of the visible order around him, he has this order destroyed by the death of people and the loss of things which are necessary and important to him. "For those who have been kept in the fetters of carelessness by outward happiness and good fortune - by what other means can one sober them if not by sorrows and afflictions? Is it not for this that entire life is filled with disasters and misfortunes, so that this life might foster God's intention to keep us in inward sobriety? "This destruction of the supports of our careless self-indulgence comprises the turning-point of our life." - St. Theophan the Recluse, Turning the Heart to God, p. 27 (published separately, this is the second part of The Path to Salvation). #StTheophantheRecluse #SelfIndulgence #Sin #Sinner #soul #God #HolyTrinity #Spirituality #SpiritualTheology

"I can do all things in Him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). Remember and repeat every morning. Remember and repeat every day. Remember and repeat every night. Christ set light on the path for you. The Holy Spirit walks with you. The Father is waiting for your heavenly return. No matter how difficult life may seem, His strength is for you too! #StPaul #Christ #Remember #HolySpirit #Father #Strength #SacredScripture

You are with us now and always, and constantly show us the path to Heaven. Help us not be afraid! Remind us that in our creation is the hope-filled promise we can spend eternity with you! Lead us away from the fetters of the world. Teach us to ascend interiorly toward the eternal contemplation of your Being and Personhood. As it says in the kontakion (hymn) from the Feast of the Ascension: "When You did fulfill the dispensation for our sake, and unite earth to Heaven: You did ascend in glory, O Christ our God, not being parted from those who love You, but remaining with them and crying: I am with you and no one will be against you." #Ascension #Heaven #God #MotherofGod #HolySpirit #JesusChrist #ContemplativePrayer

"Release your spirit, give freedom to it, and it will flow towards that from which it was taken - towards God." - St. Theophan the Recluse, Turning the Heart to God, p. 24 (published separately, this is the second part of The Path to Salvation). #StTheophantheRecluse #Spirituality #SpiritualTheology #Freedom #God #Renewal

"Our spirit, as we have seen, is closed and stifled by many coverings. But by its nature, the human spirit is a spectator of the divine order. This capacity for contemplation is immediately ready to manifest its power, and it really does manifest itself as soon as the obstacles which have bound this capacity are removed. Therefore, in order to awaken the slumbering spirit in a man and to introduce it to contemplation of the divine order, God's grace acts either: (1) directly upon his spirit, filling it with strength and power, giving it the opportunity to tear loose from the bonds which bind it, or (2) indirectly, as if gradually shaking off these covers and nets from the spirit and by this, giving the human spirit the freedom to be in its own order. "In its direct action, this omnipresent and all-penetrating divine grace invisibly inspires and guides a man's spirit by imprinting on the spirit the thoughts and feelings which separate it from finite and mortal things. This turns the spirit toward the other, better world, though it is invisible and unknown... "All of the indirect means which refer to this are directed to the destruction of the fetters in which the spirit finds itself... (1) self-indulgence, (2) the world, and (3) the devil. Against these three are directed all the destructive actions of spirit-awakening grace." - St. Theophan the Recluse, Turning the Heart to God, p.22-23 (published separately, this is the second part of The Path to Salvation). #StTheophantheRecluse #Divinity #ContemplativePrayer #God #Grace #Sin #Renewal

"Sometimes one is permitted to feel in a palpable way an invisible power which acts amidst the visible powers and phenomena, but which is strikingly different from them and originates from the divine world. Relevant to this point are all the miracles and wonders by the help of which many conversions impossible to enumerate have taken place. The Savior said that unbelievers will not come to believe if they do not see signs (John 20:24-31). Most of these signs were shown after Christ the Savior by the Apostles during the first years of Christianity, and then, after them, by the holy martyrs. The striking force of the presence of God's invisible power often converted entire villages and towns, and was never without fruit. The blood of martyrs truly lies at the foundations of the Church! There were also cases where God's power was manifested directly without the mediation of a human person, as when converting Mary of Egypt. This power also manifests itself through the instrumentality of holy things, icons, holy relics, and so on. In this way, the conversion of the Jews in Berothah took place as the result of the miraculous signs which appeared on the icon of the Crucifixion of the Lord (blood was dripping from the pictured wounds of Christ). In the moment of all these appearances, consciousness - which has been confused by the different seductions and delusions of this world and which is constantly kept in the visible, sensual, outward order by them - is delivered instantaneously from its bonds and inserted into another order of being and life. This happens by means of a striking, sudden and immediate appearing to the consciousness of the highest persons and powers, such as Christ, the Virgin, the saints, and the angelic hosts of the invisible realm. The consciousness that has been struck in this way stands in the divine order. Here the same thing occurs as when an object is electrified by a charge from another object. The latter delivers the former from the bonds of matter and, by pulling it to the surface, holds it before itself. " - St. Theophan the Recluse, Turning the Heart to God, p.21-22 (published separately, this is the second part of The Path to Salvation). #StMaryofEgypt #StTheophantheRecluse #StJohntheEvangelist #miracles #Martyrdom #Apostles #JesusChrist #Mary #saints #Angels

"Sometimes the other world itself, and particularly its order and main principles, is vividly portrayed in some striking manner in the consciousness of a person who us unfamiliar with this order, as in the... example of Blessed Andrew, Fool-for-Christ. It is also evident from many other examples in which people who are being converted were shown this divine order in a striking way. For example, the Indian king and his brother were shown a vision of the blessed dwelling places of the righteous. This occurred immediately after the Apostle Thomas (October 6) had given away the money that they had given him to the poor, instead of building a dwelling for himself. In another example, Hesychius the Chorebite (October 3) was shown the terrible torments of sinners. In yet another instance, Peter the Baker, who in great anger threw a loaf of bread at the face of a poor beggar, was shown God's judgment on his actions. Or in other instances, some deep consideration about death and one's subsequent fate were engraved in the minds of Prince Ioasaph (November 19), St. Clement (November 25), and the debauched youth whose dying father requested that he come visit him in his room every evening without fail during his decline." - St. Theophan the Recluse, Turning the Heart to God, p.20-21 (published separately, this is the second part of The Path to Salvation). #StTheophantheRecluse #saints #BlessedAndrew #JesusChrist #God #HolySpirit