Should I Pray Aloud Or Silently?
Question: Father, do the Lord and his saints hear our prayers if we pray silently, not aloud? Should we always pray aloud? Volodya.
Answer: Of course they do. Sometimes it is hard to pray inside your brain. When we say the prayers out loud, we engage our hearing, which makes us more attentive to the words that we read. We understand them more readily and feel them in our hearts.
Most importantly, we must be attentive while praying and not get distracted. It is only in that case that prayer will satisfy our souls, transform and change us from within. We need to exercise a lot before we achieve it.
You are where your mind is. That is why it is great if you can pray quietly, just as it is great if you pray out loud. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above (James 1: 17).
How Should We Interpret Dreams?
Question: Your blessing, Father. Please help me to figure out how I should treat bad dreams? What should I do if I see my relative die in my dream or if I see a dead person call someone who is still alive? I know it’s not real but it’s very scary. Thanks a lot. Irina.
Answer: We should be very cautious with regard to dreams.
The Lord says, Watch (Mark 13: 37; cf. Matthew 26: 41; Mark 14: 38) because the thief can attack you from anywhere. When you are asleep, there are a lot of negative influences that can haunt you, and we may suffer if we accept them. If we see a dead person in a dream, we can pray for that person’s soul, and it will benefit everyone. However, saints warn us against accepting everything you see in dreams and believing it because you can get lost.
The devil is looking for various loopholes to catch you, deprive you of control over yourself, and make you dependent on him. If you are superstitious and you have a dream which comes true by a sheer accident, you may find yourself distrustful of God and scared. Your fear will prevent you from relying on God and from believing. That’s sick.
