The Lord gives you peace and joy in prayer


When you begin to pray, you remember your sins and weep for them. That is how you should pray. Sometimes you feel peace and joy, and you think that these are from the enemy. If they were from the enemy, according to the sayings of the Holy Fathers, the joy would be confused, it would not bring peace and tranquility to the soul.

And do not be surprised that the Lord gives you peace and tranquility in prayer, for this does not always happen according to your worthiness, but according to the unknown judgments of God. And therefore, when you feel such joy and tranquility, consider yourself completely unworthy of this gift of God and completely reproach yourself before the Lord, saying that because of your carelessness, you cannot keep this gift in yourself and that is why you are quickly losing it.

Elder Joseph of Optina

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