March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)

Nan Merrill

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.

Prayer fulfills the need humans have for God

Don Miguel Ruiz | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)

Prayer fulfills the need humans have for God, for inspiration, for affirmation of our own spirits. In prayer, we communicate with the essence of everything that exists, including our own essence. We have a message to share with life, with God, and we want to share it with authority. The message is coming directly from our hearts, we are talking with our divinity, with Divinity Itself. The power of prayer can lead us into love, truth, and personal freedom.

~ from PRAYERS by Don Miguel Ruiz

As your prayer becomes deeper

Evelyn Underhill | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)
As your prayer and meditation become deeper, they will defend you from the perpetual assaults of the outer world. You will hear the busy hum of that world as a distant exterior melody, and know yourself to be in some way withdrawn from it. You have set a ring of silence between you and it; and behold! within the silence you are free.
~ from PRACTICAL MYSTICISM by Evelyn Underhill

Sending out love everywhere

Robert Lax | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)

PRAYER is a way of sending out love everywhere at once.

~ by Robert Lax

Be with us this day

St. Patrick | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)

Sacred Friend, be with us this day.
Within us to purify us;
Above us to draw us up;
Beneath us to sustain us;
Before us to lead us;
Behind us to restrain us;
Around us to protect us.

~ by St. Patrick

Two dimensions to prayer

Geoffrey W. Dennis | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)
There are two dimensions to prayer: speech and silence. Of the two, speech is necessary, but silence takes precedence. Silence is the authentic medium of prayer, the rich matrix in which true communion becomes possible. And being a medium, silence has a positive existence. For the one who truly understands prayer, silence also conveys a message; it too speaks... Silence prepares the soul for prayer, to hear the pain of others, the pain of the world.
~ by Geoffrey W. Dennis

Prayer permeates a sick body

Harion Woodman | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)
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.
~ from BONE by Harion Woodman

Routine work can be transformed into prayer

R. Nachman | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)
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.
~ by R. Nachman of Breslov

Every moment in life is a prayer

S. T. Georgiou | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)

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 dark of the night I wait and watch

J. Philip Newell | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)

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.

~ from CELTIC BENEDICTION by J. Philip Newell

A prayer utters itself

Carol Ann Duffy | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)

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.

~ "Prayer" by Carol Ann Duffy

Darkness in prayer

Susan M. Tiberghien | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)
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

Prayer is looking at the world as if with God's eyes

Rowan Williams | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)
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.
~ from PONDER THESE THINGS by Rowan Williams

The duty of prayer

Ohiyesa and Santee Tribe | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)

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.

~ Ohiyesa -- Santee Tribe

Praying our experiences is a way into the depth of self-knowledge and acceptance

Joseph F. Schmidt | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)
Praying our experiences is a way into the depth of self-knowledge and acceptance. As we unfold our experiences and become aware of our blessedness and our brokenness, we begin to become more aware of the God who alone can fill all our life with graciousness.
~ from PRAYING OUR EXPERIENCES by Joseph F. Schmidt

The inner bath of love

John Vianney | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)
Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges.
~ by John Vianney

Fear that has said its prayer

Dorothy Bernard | March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)
Courage is fear that has said its prayer...
~ by Dorothy Bernard