Alyosha Praying for the People

I'm reading Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov with a friend.  In Part I, Alyosha is sent out into the world.  He has lived in a monastery, but his elder Zossima asks him to go out on some kind of mission, but it is far from clear what that would be.  The world, it turns out, is a mess.  Furthermore, Alyosha's family - the Karamazovs - are a huge mess.  Returning to the monastery at the end of Part I, Alyosha remembers that Zossima had sent him out into it all.  Far from having helped with anything, it seems that things may be even worse.  Alyosha is about to say his prayers and go to sleep when he remembers to open a letter he'd received.  It turns out to be a gushing love letter from a young girl.  And just when he thought it couldn't get any messier:

"Alyosha read the note with surprise, read it a second time, thought a moment, and suddenly laughed softly and sweetly.  Then he gave a start; this laughter seemed sinful to him.  But a moment later he laughed again just as softly and happily.  He slowly put the note into the little envelope, crossed himself, and lay down.  The confusion in his soul suddenly passed.  "Lord have mercy on them all today, unhappy and stormy as they are, preserve and guide them.  All ways are yours: save them according to your ways.  You are love, you will send joy to all!"  Alyosha murmured, crossing himself and falling into a serene sleep." (160)

I think the first laugh is a laugh of condescension.  This is why it feels sinful to him, because he feels as though he's making light of this young girl's sweeping emotion.  But the second laugh is a soft and happy one.  I think, in light of his prayer, that Alyosha has reached the place where he has resolved to give the weight of all the unresolved hopes, dreams, and expectations of all the people he's encountered to the Lord.  As the old Christmas Carol of the Incarnation of Christ puts it: "the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight."  This makes him happy because he loves them all.  His prayer gives him joy because he senses that God intends to take care of the storminess, the hopes and fears of all the years.  And as though he were hearing the soft warm tones of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" drifting through the air, Alyosha is able to fall asleep.

God intends for you and I to have everything we need to love others.  If we have Christ, all the obstacles of pride, sin, death, busy-ness, distraction, conflict and more are overcome by him.  Grace allows us to travel light.  People stop being a burden if we can learn to pray the way that Alyosha prays.

I hope I can learn to pray that way!  I'm going to take my unhappy and stormy people to the Lord right now!  I hope you will too.