January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

Nan Merrill

A BLESSED NEW YEAR, dear friends, as we enter our sixteenth year of radiating SILENCE out to the world. In these troubling times, may the depth of our silence be a PRAYER FOR PEACE over all the Earth. Each prayer is a seed planted with hope.

Prayer is participation

Danny Martin | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)
I think that prayer is participation; it is the spirit of life praying in you, and when you connect with that, your deepest longing connects with the longings of the universe unfolding. You know, prayer can come out in a form of deep longing or concern for a person or for a situation in the world, or for someone who has died, or for my own health. Yet, it is a deeper longing than anything the ego wants.
~ by Danny Martin in "Sacred Journey" -- April 1998

How does a heart touched by God pray?

M. Weiderkehr | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)
Prayer is a response to God and to live coming from a heart that has been touched. How does a heart touched by God pray? Sometimes in pure gratitude it simply stands in awe rejoicing. And that is prayer! Sometimes it weeps. Sometimes it sings. At times it talks tenderly to God. At other times it might scream out in anger and pain. Sometimes it looks on the world with love, or rushes out to do good deeds. Sometimes it kneels without-stretched arms. Sometimes it merely yearns for God in deep, holy silence. All this is prayer.
~ from A TREE FULL OF ANGELS by M. Weiderkehr

Prayer is the most potent instrument of action

Mohandas Gandhi | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

Properly understood and applied, prayer is the most potent instrument of action. 

~ by Gandhi

The seed of prayer

J. Yagi | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

The seed of prayer is sown in heaven.
It pushes its stem toward the earth
and comes to grow there.
It produces an abundance of fruit.
Then, as it becomes seed once more,
it thruts its way back to heaven.

~ by J. Yagi

Rend your mind deaf and dumb

Evagrius of Pontus | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)
Strive to render your mind deaf and dumb at the time of prayer, and then, you will be able to pray.
~ by Evagrius of Pontus

As we grow in the way of prayer

Martin Israel | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

As we grow in the way of prayer, we begin to know that true prayer is an aware openness to the working of Love, that we may play our part in transmitting the divine love to all whom we meet in the daily round. Prayer is universal in scope, for God has no favorites. The way of communicative silence is the most effective way of knowing God and serving our brothers and sisters... I have little doubt that we will appreciate the silence when the body is dead and the soul passes forth into new surroundings for fresh adventures.

~ from DARK VICTORY by Martin Israel

Prayer is always true to itself

Margaret Stortz | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

Even when we bring the most difficult situations into prayer, the pain and resistance are in the situations, not in the prayer itself, as prayer is always true to itself. It discloses its own nature — that of a door a passageway to the Great Life of God. Prayer does not hold dismay, even though whatever we pray about may, for prayer move us off the place where we find ourselves and ushers us along — closer, at least — to the place we long to be.

~ by Margaret Stortz

Prayer becomes a connection to those we do not know

January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

Prayer becomes a connection to those we do not know. As we intervene for people all over the world, we become mysteriously linked with them. So, when we enter the sacred space of prayer, a crowded, jostling, colorful procession accompanies us.

~ from "Thresholds to Prayer" on the Web

Prayer is our instinctive response

John Yungblut | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)
PRAYER is our instinctive response to the immediate experience of the OTHER within, a phenomenon arising from our compelling need to relate to this being who seeks us out, forgives, accepts, and offers love.
~ by John Yungblut

Prayer is anything you think, say, do, or feel that opens you up and out to love

Jeffery Burton Russell | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

Prayer is action you take in order to realize yourself fully with your neighbor and with God. It is the fulfillment of the great commandment to love God and neighbor. It opens the gate to heaven; heaven is the complete recognition of your potential to be who you really are, uniting you in pain and joy with God and with the whole world. Embracing your own alienation and brokenness with honesty and openness is the foundation of prayer; prayer can be choked off by self-will. Prayer is anything you think, say, do, or feel that opens you up and out to love.

~ by Jeffery Burton Russell

Prayer is necessary for the life of the spirit

S. Molly Monahan | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

Prayer and meditation are as necessary for the life of the spirit as fresh air, food, and sunlight are for the body. If we think of prayer as talking to God, with or without words, our own or those of others, then we can think of meditation as listening to God — an attitude of open, silent receptiveness.

~ from SEEDS OF GRACE by S. Molly Monahan

Prayer is the process through which our soul connects with the Divine

Karyn D. Kedar | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)
Prayer is the process through which our soul connects with the Divine, with all that transcends our being. It enables us to converse with things invisible, forming connections that at times defy the rational but often calm the spirit. It can be the language that tickles and soothes, itches and scratches, touches ever so gently the soft spots deep within. Prayer, like words or even complicated mathematical formula, is a language to be mastered. And in doing so, we open gates that are usually closed and often locked.
~ from THE DANCE OF THE DOLPHIN by Karyn D. Kedar

I speak of prayer, not words

S. John Chrysostom | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

Prayer gives joy to the spirit, peace to the heart. I speak of prayer, not words. It is the longing for God, too deep for words.

~ by S. John Chrysostom

Beloved you love us and call us by name

Anonymous | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

Beloved, You love us and call us by name.
Awaken in us the desire to know
your presence in our hearts.
Fill us with you Spirit of Truth
opening us to your Love
enabling us to trust in your Word.
Strengthen our faith so that each day
our lives may radiate the Love
and the Light of your Life in us.

Amen.

~ Anonymous

Prayer is to the human heart

Tessa Bielecki | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

Prayer is the human heart
what breath is to the body.

~ by Tessa Bielecki

What appears to be indigestible can become real nourishment for prayer

A. I. Okumura | January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

At times God seems to give us stones impossible to digest. In these moments think of the pearl oyster: it retains the accidental grain of sand within itself for a long time, constantly bathing in it with its secretions. In due time a magnificent pearl is created. In like manner the animosities and antipathies that make their way into our hearts are seemingly indigestible pebbles. However, if we keep them wrapped in prayer, they will become pearls of love. Prayer provokes this miracle of love. Indeed, what appears to be indigestible can become real nourishment for prayer.

~ from AWAKENING TO PRAYER by A. I. Okumura