In the hour of prayer, when our mind wanders to thoughts of bad things, or if these thoughts come without our wanting them, we shouldn’t wage an offensive war against the enemy; because, even if all the lawyers in the world joined together, they wouldn’t make any headway with a little demon. Only through ignoring these thoughts can one chase them away. The same is true for blasphemous thoughts.
The Elder Paisios
I have also heard it said that filling our hearts with prayers to God, rather than chasing evil thoughts, can be effective.
Fr. Stephen
Glory to God for All Things 
January 29, 2009 at 11:28 am
Heh, heh, heh… a good chuckle has also been known to have beneficial effects. Thanks, dear Father.
January 29, 2009 at 1:49 pm
The Jesus prayer is very effective. Thank you and God bless.
January 29, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Lawyers and Demons… Back when I was in the Navy that title is what we would have called a target rich environment. 😉
Under the mercy,
John
January 29, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Thank you Father for the reminder! In most things it is what you pay attention to…
January 29, 2009 at 4:55 pm
What I dislike most is during Holy Mass a beautiful woman walks in and sits in front of you. You don’t immediately think bad things, but it does take your mind away from why you are there.
That and loud children.
Boy I sound grumpy.
David
January 29, 2009 at 5:15 pm
David, please have pity on our noisy children. Oh, and us beautiful women too. 😉
January 29, 2009 at 6:43 pm
David,
In my case a beautiful woman sitting in front of me in church resulted in loud children.
There is no rest for us grumps.
January 29, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Hmmm some of the above comments make me wonder if perhaps we should not take a close look at the discipline of the Russian Church Abroad who separate the genders during liturgy.
Under the mercy,
John
January 29, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Oh I have two sons of my own, but they know how to behave during Mass. I don’t mind the children so much, as long as I can pray without having a little one screaming in my ear from behind me, or running up and down the aisle.
As for the beautiful women, it’s the one thing the Enemy uses to ruin me. It’s my fault, not the woman’s. I do appreciate proper attire for attending Mass however. My wife gets disgusted more than I do with the dress that some think is appropriate for Holy Mass. My wife is traditional.
I remember witnessing a monk in Italy drive a scantily clad young woman out of a church once with his cane. I almost applauded, but I remembered where I was and kept silent.
Have mercy on me Lord, a sinner.
David
January 29, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I do want to apologize to Father. I feel I hijacked his thread as a result of my failings. For this, I apologize Father. Your subject matter is indeed serious. More serious than most people think.
The mind wonders. How do you control the mind? It’s easy to say, just think of something else. But what do you do when you are tempted? How would a saint deal with temptation? The wondering of the mind?
I think the ones who would be able to teach us are the monks who lived in the desert.
St. Anthony pray for me!!
January 29, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Father bless,
I would enjoy more instruction from you on this topic.
David
January 29, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Ad Orientem,
I am a fan of your blog!
I would also like to say Many years to the new Patriarch of Moscow! He is exactly what the faithful need in these times.
January 29, 2009 at 8:49 pm
If a child distracts you, pray for the child (not that he’ll quit distracting you). But prayer for a child is always pleasing to God. Better to please God in a liturgy than to please yourself. If a woman distracts you, lower your eyes. Liturgies are for praying, not for watching.
January 29, 2009 at 9:51 pm
I just love the accompanying picture. nice.
January 29, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Ad Orientem,
Same in Ethiopian churches genders are separated just like the Russian churches not only abroad here in America as well. There is discipline of attire as well. Everyone should think first that they go to pray and need to remember that when getting ready for church.
Kids like to imitate the priest and the choir duromg servoce. They should always be shown love and parents should not be discouraged by the noise they make or their act after a while they will grow out of it. Others without kids should not be hard either it is part of life. Like Father said pray for the child, and it works try it.
January 30, 2009 at 6:56 am
Very active children who hardly pay attention to the parents quiet whisperings during Divine Liturgy makes me think of how loving and patient God is to us (people) who commit all kinds of disobedient acts against God.
Parents don’t be disheartened with your very active children during the Divine Liturgy, your patience and kindness towards your children during this time reminds me of God’s love and long suffering towards His people.
January 30, 2009 at 11:18 am
And by this post I understand you to be saying “One who prays is a theologian” and that we should focus more on knowing God and less on protracted argument and effort to know about God.
February 5, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Thank you for the insight into prayer!
February 28, 2009 at 1:15 pm
There was an instance when my car was hit and the other party was at fault.To make a long story short, I was passing by my attorney in the Chicago subway system, I stopped to say hi but he looked like he had a lot in his mind and did not notice me.But god showed me something interesting, the holy spirit is stronger in us than other times, but as I passed him by he started to shake violently.This only last about three minutes then he returned to normal as if nothing ever happened! what god showed me is that he was serving satan unconsciously. Many lawyers have demons of lying.