A Spiritual Psalter
or Reflections on God
from the writings of
Saint Ephraim the Syrian
88
To the Theotokos: a prayer for inner spiritual well-being
O Good Mother of the All-good God: look upon the prayer of thine unworthy servant with thy merciful eye and grant me the contrition, quietness of thoughts, constancy of mind, chaste reason, sobriety of soul, humble thinking, radiance of spirit, prudent disposition, and spiritual peace that the Lord granted His disciples.
Blot out the record of my falls into sin, cleave the clouds of my sorrow, the haze and tumult of my thoughts. Remove from me the tempest and tumult of passions; enlarge my heart with spiritual breadth, give me joy and gladness, and grant that I may walk the right path of Thy Son’s commandments and properly pass through life without faltering and with an untainted conscience.
Also grant me who pray before thee pure prayer, that with an untroubled mind and concentrated thought I might always offer prayer to the honor, glory, and magnification of thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.