In suffering one experiences the power of prayer
I arrived on the morning of 27 November [1951, Oradea Securitate cellar n.n.]. It must have grown cold outside, for the temperature in the cellar suddenly dropped, and I could not sleep all night. By morning, I had draped the blanket over my back and began pacing the cell—five steps forward… back again… five steps… and back… hour after hour.
The shock of the cold was intense. Cold would become my greatest physical torment in prison. Hunger, though painful, was an enemy I could endure more easily thanks to a balanced basal metabolism. But the cold—crippling and dehumanising—struck at the very essence of our being. In the cell, the three formidable adversaries are cold, hunger, and enforced inactivity. If hard labor intimidates a prisoner, inactivity is no less terrifying. Faced with either, an experienced inmate would hesitate, for both are equally intolerable. Over time, however, I overcame the paralyzing effect of inactivity through a daily program of inner activity that left almost no moment empty.
The cornerstone of this program was prayer. The solitude and darkness of the cell provided the most favourable conditions for turning inward. Suffering, paradoxically, draws a man closer to God. “In the day of trouble,” as the Psalmist says, man seeks the Lord. It is in such conditions that the power of prayer becomes palpable. In the darkness of the cell, the teachings of the Holy Fathers—that prayer is everything—no longer seem exaggerated; one becomes fully convinced of their truth. Through experience, one recognises that periods of spiritual mediocrity coincide with the neglect of prayer, while states of inner enlightenment and fortification accompany persistent prayer, enabling a soul to maintain itself on the heights.
Prayer becomes the fortress of faith, our weapon both to defend and to advance against the ever-lurking enemy. Therefore, let us never remain unarmed. What more can be said about its benefits? Even the Lord Himself prayed, to Whom be glory and power for ever and ever. (Tertullian – On Prayer, p. 245-246)
God has taught us to pray not only with words but through deeds. If He who was without sin prayed, how much more must sinners pray; and if He kept vigil all night in ceaseless prayer, how much more must we keep watch in repeated prayer! (St. Cyprian – On the Lord’s Prayer, p. 481)
The spirit that unites itself with God and expends itself in Him through prayer and love becomes wise, good, strong, compassionate, merciful, patient, and, in short, bears within itself almost all the divine attributes. (St. Maximus the Confessor – Philokalia, Vol. II, p. 66)
(Fr. Liviu Brânzaș – Ray from the Catacomb)