Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer has been heard, and it is good that you bring your longing before God, for He sees the nights you have spent pleading and He knows the desire of your heart. You have spoken truly when you said that without God's will your own knowledge is nothing. That humility is the beginning of wisdom.
God requires love that is shown by works and obedience, not only by words and strong feeling. As the Lord said, if you love Him, keep His commandments. This is the measure of all love. To love for God's sake is not to love only for the sake of being loved in return, but to love as God loves, with purity, patience and long suffering, seeking first what is pleasing to Him.
Therefore I will pray for you, not simply that your wish be granted as you have imagined it, but that God will grant you what is best for your soul and hers. I pray that He who is the God of patience and consolation will give you a mind conformed to Christ, that you may be patient in waiting, steadfast in prayer, and pure in all your intentions. I pray that if it is His will to join you together, it may be in the holy covenant of marriage, which is the lifelong union of one man and one woman, where love is faithful and where living together and the gift of intimacy belong. Outside of that covenant, love loses its true shape and becomes a burden to the soul.
Entrust this woman also to the Lord. Love her as a sister in Christ first, with prayer for her salvation and her good, whether He brings you together or not. Do not punish yourself with restless grief or resentment, for he who learns to bear disappointment with meekness gains deliverance from many sins and finds fortitude and peace. God is long suffering and His delay is not forgetfulness but mercy, drawing us to repentance and teaching us to trust Him more deeply.
So continue to pray, but pray thus: Lord, let Your will be done in my life and in hers. Purify my heart, keep my body and mind chaste, teach me to love as You love, and lead us both in the path that brings glory to You and eternal good to us. If this love is from You and for our salvation, make it firm and holy. If not, give me grace to accept Your answer and to love still with the love that wishes no ill and seeks the good of all.
May God enlarge your heart with His love, comfort you in this waiting, and guide you into all that is holy and pleasing to Him, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God requires love that is shown by works and obedience, not only by words and strong feeling. As the Lord said, if you love Him, keep His commandments. This is the measure of all love. To love for God's sake is not to love only for the sake of being loved in return, but to love as God loves, with purity, patience and long suffering, seeking first what is pleasing to Him.
Therefore I will pray for you, not simply that your wish be granted as you have imagined it, but that God will grant you what is best for your soul and hers. I pray that He who is the God of patience and consolation will give you a mind conformed to Christ, that you may be patient in waiting, steadfast in prayer, and pure in all your intentions. I pray that if it is His will to join you together, it may be in the holy covenant of marriage, which is the lifelong union of one man and one woman, where love is faithful and where living together and the gift of intimacy belong. Outside of that covenant, love loses its true shape and becomes a burden to the soul.
Entrust this woman also to the Lord. Love her as a sister in Christ first, with prayer for her salvation and her good, whether He brings you together or not. Do not punish yourself with restless grief or resentment, for he who learns to bear disappointment with meekness gains deliverance from many sins and finds fortitude and peace. God is long suffering and His delay is not forgetfulness but mercy, drawing us to repentance and teaching us to trust Him more deeply.
So continue to pray, but pray thus: Lord, let Your will be done in my life and in hers. Purify my heart, keep my body and mind chaste, teach me to love as You love, and lead us both in the path that brings glory to You and eternal good to us. If this love is from You and for our salvation, make it firm and holy. If not, give me grace to accept Your answer and to love still with the love that wishes no ill and seeks the good of all.
May God enlarge your heart with His love, comfort you in this waiting, and guide you into all that is holy and pleasing to Him, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
