Today the Church commemorates St. John of Kronstadt, and so I was curious to see what the day’s readings in “My Life in Christ” would offer up. It seemed very fitting that several reflections centered on prayer, as indeed it was fitting that my gospel reading included the verse, “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, [the Lord] went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. (Mark 1:35)” Because St. John talks of prayer and the need for a life of prayer probably more than any other single subject. It was obviously something near and dear to his heart. And so, because St. John himself is near and dear to our hearts, we think of him today.

First of all, here’s a word on the value we place on worldly things as opposed to the value we place on holy prayers:

God’s saints had ‘the eyes of their understanding enlightened,’ and with these eyes they clearly saw the wants of our sin; we should ask, for what we should give thanks, how we should praise the Lord, and they left us the most perfect examples of prayers of various kinds. O, how beautiful these prayers are! Sometimes we do not feel and do not know their value, while we well know the value of food and drink, of fashionable attire, of well-furnished rooms, of theaters, of music, of worldly literature, especially of novels — that fluent, empty mass of words — and alas! we trample underfoot the precious pearls of prayer; and while everything worldly finds a welcome, wide shelter in the hearts of most people, prayer, alas, does not find even a narrow corner in them, cannot get into them. And when it begs us to let it in, it is thrust out like a beggar, like the man who had not a wedding garment.

If St. John had such things to say about a fondness for novels, I couldn’t help but wonder what he would’ve made of the movies, television and video games we’ve got now. I don’t know of any parent who would be concerned about a youngster who liked to read, even if it was only ‘worldly literature.’ How times have changed.

Here St. John speaks again of the value we should place on the opportunity to pray for someone:

Do not let pass any opportunity to pray for anyone, either at his request or at the request of his relatives, friends, of those who esteem him, or of his acquaintances. The Lord looks favorably upon the prayer of our love, and upon our boldness before him. Besides this, prayer for others is very beneficial to the one himself who prays for others; it purifies the heart, strengthens faith and hope in God, and enkindles our love for God and our neighbor. When praying, say thus: “Lord, it is possible for Thee to do this or that to this servant of Thine; do this for him, for Thy name is the Merciful Love of Men and the Almighty.’

In another place, St. John wrote something that touched my heart: that we must remember whenever someone asks us to pray for them to commend their trust and faith to God in your prayer:

When you are asked to pray that someone may be saved from bodily death, for instance, from drowning, from death through any sickness, from fire, or from any other disaster, commend the faith of those who ask you to do so, and say in yourself: Blessed be your faith. According to your faith may the Lord fulfill my unworthy, feeble prayer, and may He increase my faith.

Referring back to the conviction in prayer, St. John constantly advises that we must believe that God will hear our prayer:

If you wish to ask of God in prayer any blessing for yourself, then before praying prepare yourself for undoubting and firm faith, and take in good time means against doubt and unbelief. For it will go ill with you if during the prayer itself your heart wavers in its faith and does not stand firm in it; then do not even expect to obtain of the Lord what you have prayed for doubtingly, for in doing so you have offended the Lord, and God does not bestow His gifts upon a reviler.

And I must note that this advice of St. John is something that I just have to grow into over time. I found that I had trouble not opening up the floodgates of merely temporal prayers — the equivalent to praying that you’ll win the lottery, or see miracles of healing for yourself or others. I don’t think that’s the kind of thing that St. John meant, but then in the same way that he couldn’t have foreseen the day when literature-reading would pale by comparison to other leisure activities, he couldn’t have known how overwhelming our materialism and self-interest would become.

All the more reason to say on this, his name-day: St. John of Kronstadt, blessed saint and wonderworker, pray for us.