Today we celebrate entrance of the most holy Theotokos into the temple; today the three-year-old most pure Ever-virgin enters into the inner sanctuary, fleeing the company of men in order to devote herself solely to God, attended only by angels. With this feast, the Theotokos is revealed as the model hesychast, the ultimate practitioner of stillness and of the prayer of the heart. From her earliest days, she was devoted wholly to God, and this meant that her heart was always given over to prayer. She dwelt in silence for ten full years, spent her life in quiet and holy contemplation, and was and is the most pure vessel of God the Word: through her prayers may we find the patience and strength to devote ourselves, if only for a few minutes a day, to the practice of the Jesus Prayer. By the grace of our Savior, we then hope that our own hearts may one day be transformed into worthy temples where the continuous worship of God is carried out with purity and joy.
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