When you see the world as part of yourself, you will take care of it. When you see yourself as part of the world, you will be cared for.
In the shining secret garden, the solitary sign of the crocus speaks once more through blackened snow. The poet's word has revived with the resurrected flower, echoing the refrain of the One Song.
I know in my cells that prayer permeates a sick body, makes it
shimmer as the new life comes in, making the cells remember
how to respond to the harmonic whole. Music is like prayer
a mystical bridge between heaven and earth.
If you cannot meditate, you can repeat one simple word; this is good
for the soul. Do not say anything else, just repeat the word over
and over, innumerable times. Finally, it will lose all meaning, yet
take on an entirely new significance. God will open the doors and
you will find yourself using that simple word to say everything you
wanted to say. Thus, routine work can be transformed into prayer.
Every moment in life is a prayer, or could be. I think you can pray yourself into the mystery of the moment, or allow for the blessings of the moment to sustain you. Every moment is an invitation, and whatever you do in that moment, if it's dedicated to God, then it is a prayer.
~ from THE WAY OF THE DREAMCATCHER by S. T. Georgiou
In the quiet of this place in the dark of the night I wait and watch. In the stillness of my soul and from its fathomless depths the senses of my heart are awake to You. For fresh soundings of life for new showings of light I search in the silence of my spirit, O Blessing God.
Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer utters itself. So, a woman will lift her head from the sieve of her hands and stare at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift. Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth enters our hearts, that small familiar pain; then a man will stand stack- still, hearing his youth in the distant Latin chanting of a train. Pray for us now.
A small seed sowed in the field. I am back to the part of darkness in
my prayer. As the seed opens in the ground, so the soul opens in the
ground, in the dark. Over the last decade, with each faltering step I
took into this darkness, my prayer — a prayer of no words — found
deeper roots. This way of prayer is the dark way of silence. This way
takes leave of discourse, of the mind, and turns to the heart, the
dwelling place of God.
~ from CIRCLING TO THE CENTER by Susan M. Tiberghien
Praying is not necessarily best described always as
looking towards God; sometimes and especially in
intercession, it is equally a learning to look at the
world as if with God's eyes.
In the life of the Indian there was only one inevitable duty — the duty of prayer — the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. Daily devotions were more important than daily food. Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet Earth, and the Great Silence alone.
Blessed be, dear friends! We will never know how the quality of life has been enhanced in the world through our silence and prayer. Yet, may we continue to offer our silent prayer as seeds of healing and peace sown with radical trust. When the prayer energy of silence is united with Love, the soul consciousness of the world awakens in equal measure.
