One day, in a town in the Peloponnese, I met a Christian man of about 32 years of age who was spreading the scent of rosemary. I was even more astonished when he began to tell me about Jesus' prayer, realizing that the ineffable fragrance of the Holy Spirit was coming out of his mouth.

He had learned to recite the rosary and the Jesus Prayer some years earlier on the Holy Mountain [Athos], and since then he had been reciting it day and night. Prayer fulfilled his natural need for sleep.

And so, little by little, Jesus' prayer became spiritual in his heart.

He rejoiced in the greatness of this prayer, without being able to explain how it was said inside himself. It was happening in his heart with such gentleness, and he wasn't saying it consciously, either with his mouth or with his inner speech. This is the greatness of spiritual prayer, especially that which is called the prayer of the spirit.

One day, in such a state, he was so transformed by God's grace that he said: "I forgot myself. It was as if I lost myself, and suddenly I felt that my soul was in the open arms of my spiritual confessor, who was praying before a luminous heavenly throne with an abundance of light and Grace from God.

After a moment, this heavenly light completely covered my spiritual confessor and made him shine so brightly that I felt as if I had closed my soul's eyes. How did I see? I don't know. My soul, which was closely linked to him, heard him praying to the Lord Jesus Christ for me.

I didn't dare lift my eyes from my soul, but I felt this flood of light invade me, fill me with bliss, joy, peace, amazement, exultation. After a while, I came to my senses.

I felt that I was not walking on earth and Jesus' prayer was repeated in me many times. My Lord Jesus, My Lord Jesus, My Lord Jesus...

For three or four days, I didn't eat, I didn't drink water and I didn't sleep. I revelled in an indescribable heavenly joy.

My tears flowed like a torrent and were very sweet".

Here ends the divine experience of this Christian living among us in our time, such a rare human being in this crazy age we live in.

He tasted the honey of divine delights, coming from the pronunciation of the sweet and powerful Name of Jesus Christ.

He devoted himself entirely to this spiritual work, saying the prayer first with his lips, then in a low voice, then with his inner voice, regardless of the duties he had at work, in society and at home. In his mind, in his thoughts, in his memories, in his feelings reigned only this thirst for the Name of Jesus Christ. A thirst that became love and was transformed into divine love for Christ.

A relentless hunger and thirst for God's Love, with all his heart and mind, with all his power. Our Lord Jesus Christ assures us that those who hunger and thirst for God's righteousness will not only be satisfied, but will also be happy thanks to this fullness of God's Love. And the fullness of Love, as we can see, led this young man to the garden of the Mother of God.

Priest Stephenos Anagnostopoulos

French version Claude Lopez-Ginisty

based on

The Athonite Testimony

Dear friends,

“From the feast of Saint Martin (November 11) to the Nativity of the Lord, we shall fast on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.” Council of Macon, 581

It would seem that the Advent of the Son of God in the flesh requires a preparation that calls for a triple asceticism: fasting, which is inconceivable without charity (agape or unconditional love) and prayer: food or liturgical prayer and breathing prayer known as silent prayer or meditation without an object, also called pure prayer; all this for an ever more intense practice of presence to God, here and now.

Saint Paul urges the faithful to awaken from their sleep, that is, from their unconsciousness or forgetfulness of God.

It's true that for the salvation of our souls, it's enough to be present to God, but that our nature in exile is “forgetfulness of God”.

So we need “reminders”: “Behold, I stand at your door and knock.” This call from the Lord is permanent; it is the “resonance”, here and now, of the call to “turn our eyes to Him...”

This action brings us back to the importance of the present moment, which is our only wealth: it is the center of the cross, the meeting point of man's spirit with his God. Here and now, adherence to God's will is exercised.

At this very moment, God wants us to perform a certain action, which will often be neither extraordinary nor grandiose, but banal and infinitesimal, and whose only value will be to adhere to God's will for me, at this very moment, for “my very hairs are numbered.” Luke 12:7

This divine will, here and now, can prove formidable: “Father, if it is possible remove this cup from me” says Christ; but He adds, “Not my will, but yours!”

It's precisely in the “yes” to what is, whatever the existential conditions, that the Lord awaits us, and if we look for him elsewhere, we'll miss him.

He is waiting for us here, in this time of Advent in particular, to give himself to us, to commune with us.

During this time of Advent, which does not have the penitential character of the Great Lent, we are invited both to vigilance and at the same time to the joy of the encounter with the Lord “who was, who is and who is to come”, in this blessed moment of the present moment, which is gradually becoming the “perpetual sacrament” of our daily lives.

Time then becomes sacred, and there is no longer any “wasted time”, because through our practice of vigilance, we “consecrate” time to what is essential. It's a new way of being revolutionary ... dare we say it!

 Faithfulness to the little things gradually gives us back access to the joy that dwells in the depths of our being.  

By contrast, our era is perhaps the one in which awareness of the importance of the present moment is most acute. In the midst of destruction, absurdity and loneliness, “lift up your heads” says Christ, for “your deliverance is at hand!”

To live in the present moment is to be totally available to God. Here, during this Advent season, we can contemplate the figure of Mary, the most holy Mother of God, who at the age of three, church tradition tells us, enters the temple without looking back.

“On this day let us form choirs and sing psalms and hymns to the Lord; let us honor his holy Tabernacle, the spiritual ark enclosing the elusive Word; for living in the flesh a marvelous childhood, she is offered to God, and the high priest Zechariah receives her with joy as the Habitacle of God.” (Great antiphon for the feast of the Virgin Mary's entry into the temple, celebrated on November 21.) and also the figure of Saint John the Baptist, who opens the way for us to the one who is aware of not being worthy to “untie the sandal strap” of the master who dwells “in our midst”...

Two paths of saving self-denial in the awareness that “without Him, we can do NOTHING;”

Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!

With all my affection in Christ!

Father Francis