“Congratulations on the commemoration of the Venerable Father David of Gareji. I always feel profound gratitude when I visit his holy grave and pray here. We pray for Georgia, for our Church, for this sacred monastery, and the revival and strengthening of monasticism throughout Georgia,” His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi, and Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, Shio III, made these remarks during a sermon at the David Gareji Monastery on the Feast Day of the Venerable Father David of Gareji.
“David of Gareji was a wondrous father, as were the Venerable John of Zedazeni and all his disciples, who established monastic life in Georgia. Among them, Father David is one of the great luminaries, renowned not only in Georgia but throughout the world. Such was the grace he acquired before God; such was his abundance of grace. By what manner of striving did he acquire such great grace? We read in Scripture that God breaks down the proud, yet grants grace to the humble. Father David was distinguished above all by that greatest of virtues which is called humility. This we know from his life.
Every person who desires to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit must reflect on how that grace is to be obtained, for, as you know from the teaching of the Holy Fathers, the obtaining of this grace is the chief purpose of our ecclesial and spiritual life. The swiftest path to grace is, of course, the possession of humility, the striving for humility, the refraining from judging one’s brother, and the awareness of one’s own sins. To obtain such grace, prayer is indispensable; without prayer, a person cannot acquire these qualities.
In the Gospel reading at today’s Divine Liturgy, we heard Our Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching on the importance of prayer. It was one of His last sermons to the Apostles, as though the Lord had taught them all things, and crowned His teaching at the last with these words concerning prayer: ask, and it shall be given unto you. The Lord grants us this possibility, but our prayer must be very simple, offered with a simple heart, without any artifice or strain. Much as children ask things of their parents, so too must our prayer be simple, in the simplicity of the heart. On this very matter the Lord says: unless you become as little children, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He adds: unless you humble yourself as this little child, and whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Consider that the Lord associates this with perfect joy, as though He says that He came for this very purpose: that we should pray to the Lord and receive from God all things, and above all the grace of the Holy Spirit, that our joy might be made perfect. He gives us this means, for those of us who may mistakenly suppose that we are already grown and can manage without God, the Lord restores to us the ability to stand before God and, as children, to pray to the Father, to receive far more than we ask of Him.
Therefore, when we stand to pray, we must remember that this is the chief work of our lives, without which no other endeavour shall proceed as it ought; that prayer is the most powerful thing on this earth. As Saint John Chrysostom says, nothing can compare to prayer and its power: in prayer, sorrow is dissolved and grief dispersed, demons are put to flight, every manner of opposition overcome, passions are stilled, and we stand before our Heavenly Father. And as that great Holy Father declares: even the poorest of men is richest of all, if he knows how to pray — whilst he who does not turn to the Lord, though he sit upon a throne of gold, is the poorest of all.
Today, we reflect on the significance of grace, the importance of prayer, and how to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. Yet there is one further, essential condition for this. So that we may receive this grace and possess the boldness and gift of prayer, the Lord sets before us one condition: the Father loves you, but only because you have loved me. The Lord tells us that we must be of Christ, that we must believe in Him and learn from Him.
Once more I congratulate you. May God bless you and strengthen you. May God, through the intercession of the Venerable Father David of Gareji, bless, unite, strengthen, and deliver All Georgia,” the Patriarch declared.
