Temptations against night prayer (1) - DESPONDENCY

[@mullmonastery]

Thank you all for your prayers. A brief update on my eyesight: my eyes are not at all any better, but I have seen a doctor and I should receive new glasses in about two weeks or so. After my experience with Covid at the end of March, my eyesight deteriorated slowly, but permanently; about six weeks ago, it eventually got so bad that I can barely read. Anyway - new glasses are on the way, and I look forward to answering as many of your emails and comments as I possibly can. In the meantime, I ask for your forgiveness and I thank you again for your love and support.

[@mysticalheart8107]

Father there is nothing to forgive. I am a devout Roman Catholic and i will praying the Holy Rosary for the healing of your eyes. i love your channel and am so grateful to God for all that you are teaching us. "By His Stripes we are healed." The Mother of God is keeping you close in her Pure Heart.

[@Dismas19]

Oh no! You poor dear! I did not know the back story & was already astounded at how many comments you replied to so very much in-depth. If I didn’t know better, I’d have erroneously guessed you had solely a cyber ministry with a surplus of pandemic time on your hands or more truthfully, that you cared. just. That. Very. Much. About. Us. now realizing what challenges you are facing & were, wow! I’m speechless. If you ever find yourself in deficit of awe for communal human compassion, you can lean on mine for you. Holding you tenderly aloft in arterial prayer, Fr. Seraphim. Ps. Yeesh! I hope someone else reads this to you or you skip it altogether! 🌹

[@timpeters9965]

🙏 🙏 🙏

[@halabouabs6166]

Mull Monastery Dearest Father Serafim I’m sorry to hear that ❤️Lord have mercy on us. I hope you get well soon ☦️

[@abeltareke3118]

Can you do a video on anxiety?

[@miniscaria5372]

Thanks Father...

[@marianovelasquez4264]

Thank you.

[@Chooselife2024]

I needed this..tonight☦️😔

[@georgyporgy5539]

Thank you for your heartfelt blessings Father

[@jamesmondok8635]

In reading the comments, I get the feeling that at times, everyone finds it difficult to pray. I know I do and I’m definitely tempted not too. Whatever Fr. Seraphim says about prayer is true and absolutely helpful in the most necessary ways. When I seem to run up against a brick wall in prayer, I always pause and clear my mind. I simply ask God who understands us better than we know, to bless me. I them simply thank Him for His Son Jesus who saved me, us! Then I go to sleep knowing that our loving Father heard my prayer and will send His graces to help me next time. We have to learn to rely on our Father completely and the Holy Spirit will do the rest in Jesus name. We’re all in this together so let’s pray for Fr. Seraphim and one another and everything will turn out just fine. It’s a constant fight against satan so put on the armor of Jesus. God bless you.....Fr.James

[@donsjober]

Thank you for your message...

[@heathstjohn6775]

It's 1:55 am; I needed that. I began to see the futility of worldly things long ago, but some love of the world, I confess, is still within me. Keep speaking: you're helping me. Thanks.

[@sophiewallace8662]

I wake up in the middle of the night and sometimes pray..one time I stood in front of a devine mercy picture. As I stared at it for a while tears started to flood my face..I wasn't feeling any sadness or emotion that I could recall. It lasted as long as I stood there. Really neat. A few other times I woke up already sitting up in bed- hands folded, I the middle of the Hail Mary or Act of Contrition. The dreams were very scary..I woke up in that pose and hands folded and actively praying.

[@almazalmaz6619]

God bless you father and heal your eyesight. Thank God for your recover from covid. I PRAY for you. Thank you for being there for us. May the Lord protect you.

[@francescobrasa8156]

Thanks fr Seraphim, I listened to your sermon at a time that I am dedicating to the eremitical life and to night prayer. I am a Catholic monk, very attached to the spirituality of the Christian East and I welcome your words as a blessing and a sign of communion between our sister churches. Communion in the same struggle for the custody of the presence of God in our life. I heartily bless you Fr Francesco Brasa ofm

[@francescobrasa8156]

@@memlagu God bless you. I remember you in my prayer on the holy mountain of La Verna In communion of prayer

[@yolandalemus6705]

Thank you! Fr. You speak from the Heart.

[@daughter_ofGod.]

Pray for us in Lebanon 🙏🇱🇧 God bless you thank you alot🙏🙏

[@GTHbass]

Great Videos! it's like a virtual Spiritual Retreat! God Bless Mull Monastery

[@vivienne4686]

Oh father! I have been crying like a child who is lost without her mother due to the fact that recently my prayers have been dry and going through coldness as I used to pray like a monk and I still live like a nun BUT nowadays I feel so dead🤦🏻‍♀️🥺💔

[@bojler1616]

Thank you so much I needed this message so much

[@dimitrap5615]

In a time where confession and communion are not possible it’s very easy to feel despair and a lack of hope (at least in my case). That’s why this video is such a blessing. It restores hope for me and likely for many others like myself, who feel that our prayers are going unheard. But hearing you say that even when we feel dead inside the Holy Spirit is praying within us... you don’t know how grateful I am to hear that. Thank you Father, sincerely. God bless xx

[@1985wvufan]

I do nothing by myself, literally, I can do nothing. I know this I ask my guarding angel to wake me every morning at 3 am in order to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I felt last night like I was dead, I was so tired and my prayer felt so flat, so empty, so worthless, I sat and prayed the whole Chaplet and went back to bed feeling just like I wasted that time. Thank you Father for this, it is a great help. And, yes we are all one. Thank you Father.

[@veronicahispana]

The exact same thing happened to me yesterday when praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3AM. Thanks for sharing your struggles, I'm glad I'm not the only one! :)

[@johnhealy4647]

Thank you for sharing our faith and belief in the One Risen Lord Jesus Christ!!!

[@kateh2354]

I'm very sorry to hear that you are having problems with your eyes. I will keep you in my prayers and pray for healing. Thank you so much for these videos. Your words are inspiring and very much needed at this time.

[@madeingermany9923]

God bless you father!

[@KINGOFGLORY-40]

I love you so much Fr. Seraphim🤲 Thank you God for blessing us with spiritual help from Fr. Seraphim. May the Lord God remember you and your priesthood in His Kingdom Fr. Seraphim.

[@taratata12121]

Amen

[@michaeljerjes5447]

A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; psalm 34:19 ...“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 cor 12:9 ... Pray for me

[@DavidDalyDoubleBass]

This has been such a blessing to hear. I feel I have just woken from a deep sleep. I realise I've to some degree given up praying. And for the reasons you outlined, feeling as though nothing is happening and its pointless. How dare I. I am eager to pray this evening now knowing the Holy Spirit within is working His purposes in me and through me in those around me. Bless you brother.

[@mellisugahelenae]

Pleeeeeeease!!;😩more of this!!!!🙏

[@EsmeeElisabeta]

Thank you for your encouragement. I love to chant the psalms at night. I find them very comforting. I can only imagine what effect reading the entire Psalter every night has on the soul. I can see why it was the practice of so many of our beloved saints. I wish I possessed such strength.

[@timpeters9965]

🙏 🙏 🙏 Lord have mercy on me.

[@jameshutchins3396]

Amen Amen Amen

[@timpeters9965]

Please pray I do not fall and I pray that all of us stand. Amem

[@light5901]

You are amazing please keep on doing this helpful vids❤

[@christinachamley3365]

My God, I can’t thank you enough for this wisdom and advice Father! I always think I am the most hopeless at prayer and spiritual reading: I yawn, I lose focus, my eyes close and water from tiredness, I am not powerful or energetic about it. I always thought: I, I, I ... never realising for a moment it was not I, instead all along it is Christ helping me to pray, He is present with me! I had prayed for His help and didn’t even recognise it when He gave it! Up to me, a dead person, I wouldn’t even care about trying to pray or persevere with reading about ancient spiritual fathers! Now you point out that Christ is in me, with me, helping wake this spiritually dead person up and what I notice is all the discomfort of being dragged from dead to being woken up, no wonder I’m yawning, feel tired, hazy and unfocused in the head - I’ve been dead for ages! I pray Christ stay with me, to wake me right up, bring me to life even that this mind and body complains and resists! Let’s all have some spiritual coffee and wake up! God Bless you Father!

[@brentgarner3143]

Glory to God thank you for this very helpful Glory to the Father Son and Holy Spirit amen yes and amen

[@mimimoonie]

Thank you Fr.Seraphim.🩸💧🕯️🕯️🕯️

[@brentgarner3143]

Praying for you Fr. And all at Mull monistary

[@karenmaawad7739]

Thank you so much Father, I can't exaggerate how helpful these videos have been for my prayer life. I asked my spiritual father if midnight prayer would be appropriate for me now and he said no so I obeyed, but my prayer in general is suffering greatly from dispondency and feelings of my prayers being like stagnant waters especially when it comes to focusing all my attention on the prayer and my mind wandering. This came just in time! Please keep these videos coming, peace and blessing from the Coptic Orthodox church in Egypt, pray for us all 🌺

[@helenedragone2532]

Thank you Father Seraphim for all these details, essential and incredibly encouraging ! Its very important ! Glory to God for giving us, through you, the right landmarks on the path of true prayer .... May the Lord keep you with us all, in union of prayer ...

[@timpeters9965]

Okay. I will pray no matter how i feel inside. Thank you fr

[@bojsara2002]

God bless you father Seraphim! Greetings from Serbia ,Belgrade, i wish to visit your brotherhood and monastery. Thank you for words of cosolation, and may God protect you in this turbulent times of temptation.

[@Dismas19]

My deepest gratitude & prayers ascending. tenderness on your day, Fr. Seraphim 🩸🌊

[@mhpupacios]

Thank you and Bless Father . I feel connected to you and your monastery in a way that I cannot explain. I have never met you but I am able to be there on Mull in my mind even though I live in the East end of London. Your vlogs resonate always so I thank you 🙏

[@abeltareke3118]

Thank you so much- May God bless you.

[@mihaelamful]

You blessing, Father! It had happened to me sometime that I couldn't wake up in the time of night for praying (because I was very tired or not feeling well) as usually, and I have being suffering because of that, and cried, but I understand something very interesting that is happening with me, because after those nights that I couldn't wake up (and felt guilty) I am much more concentrate in the words of prayers and I am much more there with my soul and my heart. But my purpose is to be all time, all my life in prayers, in connection with God, Theotokos and Saints.

[@user-pl8kc2lo1r]

How do fight against the pride when you live in the world and are tempted and troubled by everything in it. Do get to God we need to defeat the pride, once own will. I manage to pray jesus prayer for 5 years ago and it gave me great joy. But I neglected and lost that and don't seem to get there again. I been said and depressed for last 15 years

[@rainastor4789]

This made me cry

[@harrihuovinen9706]

Amen! Thank you so much for this video!

[@matthewbrown7296]

Thank you brother for this wonderful encouragement. I have a four-page rule that my priest gave me which is very simple and which I have memorized. He also gave me the blessing to pray Psalms later in the day rather than repeat the rule twice as I found this better for me. I used to pray the rule early on work days as I was getting ready for work and arrive at work a little early so I could finish undistracted in the car before going in. Since retiring though my days vary so much that the only way to be at all consistent was to pray the rule at 4 or 5 in the morning, the time I usually woke because of my old schedule. So night prayer is something I sort of worked my way into. Sometimes it is very hard and my eyes seem glued shut- but I find that having words to say actually helps me wake up. The main difficulty is that I run on ahead in the words while my mind has gone somewhere else, and then I feel like I have to go back to where I last knew my mind was in it, and pick up there, which can be disheartening. But your words have helped me to know that however things go on a particular day, the effort is never wasted, and I realize that too when I think how much better and more spiritually profitable things have gotten since I’ve been doing this. As always thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

[@Simonet1309]

“Always remember God, and your mind will become heaven”. St. Nilos the Wise “The highest form of prayer is to stand silently in awe before God”. St Isaac the Syrian “Let us understand that God is a physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation”. St. Augustine

[@mkeenan1955]

Thank you Father for your encouraging words. Yes, for me it is a struggle to get up in the wee hours and stand before my icons with a lit candle. But I have persisted. I use the prayer app on my phone for prayers and readings during my vigil. Yes, God is praying inside us without our rational minds knowing it. And then, if I cannot go back to sleep I read. I have been reading (for probably the third time) Dante's Inferno (Hell) of his beautiful poem, the Divine Comedy, an English translation by Dorothy Sayers. Then I eventually go back to sleep. I will pray for you to get better, your eyes. I hope you will be able to read longer now with your new glasses.

[@DonalLeader]

Wonderfully inspiring comment

[@lovelightallways]

Bless you

[@roblesd1]

Thank you for these videos. This helps a lot!

[@anio6865]

+ Come down, O Love divine, seek thou these souls of thine, and visit us with thine own ardor glowing; O Comforter, draw near, within our hearts appear, and kindle in us, thy holy flame bestowing. + O let it freely burn, till earthly passions turn to dust and ashes in its heat consuming; and let thy glorious light shine ever on our sight, and clothe us round, the while our path illuming. + And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long, shall far outpass the power of human telling; for none can guess its grace, till thy Love create a place wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling. + The Lord Liveth & Reigneth Forever ! + ~Amen~

[@tamochiko]

Thank youuuuu

[@judith5128]

Father Seraphim- I love you for being my only connection to Orthodoxy right now-I am blessed that I have no job, family, etc. So God has led me to the Orthodox Church (after not having questions answered when I became catholic 3 yrs ago.) I love the 3am praying and have energy and strength when I wake at 6. I yearn for a sense of community -any advice for me? I AM PRAYING FOR YOUR EYESIGHT 🙏💕

[@elizabethshaw734]

I don't go to bed until between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. so I am already up. I do not get up at 8 a.m. though. I tend to get up around midday. That has been my schedule for many many years because I worked in nursing on the night shift I tried to work on the night shift with all of my jobs.

[@jamesw151]

Fr seraphim aldea .... Question what is that chat / prayer .. in the beginning of your video it's very pleasant

[@JackTimothy]

Hello is the beautiful icon of the Theotokos displayed on the desk available in the Monastery shop?

[@likeoilpouredout]

Thank you so much Father, you are a blessing! I have a question: I have prayed the Jesus Prayer for about 6 years. I set alarms every hour to remind me to pray it at work, but it still has not entered my heart that my heart prays it without my "will". I fell frustrated it has been so long. Do you have any advice for me? Thank you for the video you did on this prayer. God bless

[@markdayton3186]

Hi Father, or anyone who replies, I do evening prayers. But what exactly are the night prayers? What prayers do you say and what time do you wake up?

[@South-xz3kz]

Bless You Father. What comfort would You give the chronically ill who's despondency comes from the fact they cannot keep to regular prayer schedule due to illness and insomnia? If they are already bedridden 16-18 hours a day and only sleeping 4-6 hours a night, I think that is the Will of God in that, that is the Crucifixion God has assigned to them. But they then feel guilty if they cannot keep to the schedule prayer regime they are used to if they finally fall asleep at the wrong time. Then they think they have failed God on top of being a problem to society for being useless. I think in that case I want to tell them to sleep as long as their body will allow them to and not force themselves awake when to do that would make them sicker. Then the despair that comes with failing to try to do something they are too compromised to be expected to do makes them worse. They are stuck alone in bed with their own thoughts 16-18 hours a day, I think to expect more is detrimental.

[@liiviiosa]

South 1981 I would also like to ask whether it’s as valuable to pray during an insomniac night as it would be to keep vigil? I too struggle with chronic illness and insomnia, and regularly can’t sleep during the night when everyone else is, but I always try to pray during those times, although despondency keeps my mind distracted with the thought that it isn’t as valuable as keeping vigil.

[@MrLattepig]

I would like to offer you a response from my experience as someone who has struggled to keep a regular prayer schedule with fairly severe chronic fatigue for 15 years. I look forward to any way Fr. Seraphim may want to respond as well. The first question that comes to mind is, "What is the purpose of a regular prayer schedule?" and are you, as a chronically ill person, accomplishing that purpose in a different way, in the context of your specific circumstances?" I have stopped holding myself unrealistically accountable to a regular prayer schedule. I hold to it the best I can, and have learned to be gentle with myself when I don't have it in me. This is being merciful as God is merciful. I have learned to cherish the long hours in bed as an incredibly precious time for prayer. I give as much or as little as I have to give at any time, and I don't by any means do this well all the time, but I try. Sometimes it is just calling out to God, "Lord help me," "Lord have mercy" " Lord help me to know that I have a purpose to fulfill in the building up of your kingdom(none of us is useless on this earth or we wouldn't still be alive--the idea that chronically ill people are useless is a reflection of the limitations of society, not the ways of God). I pray for others and offer my suffering for them. I recite bits of scripture that I know, like from Isaiah 43, and imperfectly, but intentionally. I allow God to inspire my prayer. I have learned to, as much as possible, pray in place of being with my own thoughts. The quality of thoughts that then do come start to shift over time from being consuming and destructive to being more life-giving and reflecting God. I set aside the formal prayer to just be real with God, to give what I have to give, even if It is a prayer in the form of a brief repetitive utterance, that goes on for a while. I don't believe that God ever asks of us anything that is genuinely beyond our capacity. It would be counterproductive. God is far more creative than that in drawing us back into the image and likeness we are of him. Our different circumstances are not barriers to God as they are to the world. I just watched one of Fr. Seraphim's reflections on being in our cells, how it is different for monastics, or single persons, or married people. I think chronically ill people have their own cells, and it is called long hours in bed! It is the place where we are called to engage with God and undergo the purification of our souls, and pray for others.

[@suziebrown3512]

Amen

[@rosalindabarrett7508]

Amen