Prayers to Our Lord Jesus Christ and a Safeguard for the Soul

Book excerpt: P rayers to Our Lord Jesus Christ by our Ascetic and God-bearing Father Nikodemos the Hagiorite is a beautifully poetic work dedicated to the Name of Jesus and written, according to the Saint, with the express purpose of motivating his readers "to continuously meditate upon and repeat the salvific, most sweet, and joy-producing Name of our Lord Jesus Christ." In reality, it is an Akathist to the Name of Jesus, following the standard pattern of twenty-four stanzas arranged alphabetically according to the Greek alphabet. A Safeguard for the Soul is a small work divided up into four sections: Meditations, brief Meditations, Examinations, and Readings. It is a very dense but practical section, and was written by the Saint with the intent that his reader would study one brief Meditation per day, hence thirty of them, one for each day of the month. It would seem that the best time for reading these Meditations would be at the very start of the day, since they immediately bring one's mind to ultimate and vital realities, thus setting the proper tone for the day at hand. A veritable Athonite "chicken soup for the soul," this is certainly not a work that falls into the contemporary category of "inspirational" that will make one "feel good," but is rather truly inspired by the Spirit of God since it is concerned with the ultimate salvation of the human person.