Cuvânt și tăcere în dialogul dintre om și Dumnezeu

Abstract

Prayer is man’s silent dialogue with God, constituting the space and time for the approach between the earthly plane and the heavenly plane. Man’s soul can meet his Creator through the word, but also through a humble silence. The path of prayer has several stages of internalization: spoken prayer, whispered prayer, thought prayer and the felt, lived prayer. The final stage of prayer, as a state of internalization, represents the descent of the mind into the heart, amidst a state of divine grace, called enlightening, meaning that inner stillness which leads to the peace of Christ. The prayer of the mind lowered into the heart is called the Jesus Prayer, in which the power of the Name of Jesus gives rise in our souls to „countless thoughts as bright as the sun” (St. Isihie of Sinai).