“As he was dying, Abba Benjamin taught his sons this:
Do this, and you will be saved: Rejoice always, pray
constantly and in all circumstances give thanks.”
There is no Lent without prayer, constant prayer. True, but…
be on the watch. When we begin to take up prayer seriously two
things happen. What is not from God in us becomes more and more
clear, it comes to the surface, it begins to make noise, lots
of noise, plenty of thoughts, strange, distracting, disturbing.
“A brother asked an old man: Abba, what shall I do? For
many thoughts are bothering me and I don’t know how to
fight back. The old man said: Do not fight against all of
them, but against one. In fact, all thoughts of monks
have a single head. Therefore, you have to figure out
which and what kind it is, and fight against it. By doing
so, you can defeat the rest of those thoughts.”
When we pray, and pray seriously, we discover who our enemy is,
his strategy, his tactics, his head, and so we can fight back.
Something else happens in prayer. We discover who our ally is,
his strategy and ways, and so we can persevere and bear fruit.
“It was said about Abba John the Little that he went away
to an old man in Scetis who lived in the desert. Once his
Abba took a piece of dry wood, planted it, and said to
him: Water it every day with a bottle of water until it
bears fruit. The water, however, was so far away from there
that John had to go out late in the evening and come back
the next morning.
Three years later, the tree came to life
and bore fruit. Then, the old man took some of the fruit
and brought it to the church, and said to the brothers:
Take and eat the fruit of obedience!”
In Lent prayer has a particular direction: the Paschal Vigil.
On that night we renounce our enemy and turn again to our ally.
