Pray

Prayer is our only means of returning to our communication with God. (p40) In prayer, the more love the more power. (p57) Prayer will continually revise, enlarge, and expand your ideas. Spontaneous prayer, that thought that is given at the moment, carries the power. (p71-2) Be ceaselessly active in his realm, by prayer and meditation. (p103) The highest of all forms of prayer is true contemplation, in which the thought and the thinker become one - this is the unity of the mystic. (p183) (Sermon on the Mount)

Pray without ceasing (or continously). (Thess 5:17)

The Jesus Prayer ‑ "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on

me, a sinner"

Confederate Soldier's Prayer

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve,

I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked God for health, that I might do greater things,

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches, that I might be happy,

I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for

- but everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am among men, most richly blessed.

The Seven Circles of Prayer Video at SRC (seen 6/19/97):

1. Silence - noise ditracts us

2. Space - need place/time for regular deep moments of silence

3. Seeing - deeper awareness of people & activities around us

- grateful for the ordinary and things taken for granted

- give attention to the distracting thoughts

4. Suffering - imagine and feel those hidden pains/suffering of self/others

- realize our own hidden prejudices/rationalizations/fears

- aware that others pay the price for our self centeredness

- open up to the cry of strangers & share with them

5. Touching - is love alive; brings warmth, comfort, healing to others

- reach out to those that need it and thank God for our senses

6. Listening - Bible is personal & has our own story, contemplate passages

- Both realize our flaws and know that there is hope

7. Face to face - in Jesus and in others

- Eucharist gathers the prayers of all & incorp all 7 circles

Gandhi said: "Prayer is a reminder to ourselves that we are helpless without God's support. No effort is complete without prayer, without a definite recognition that the best human endeavor is of no effect if it has not God's blessing behind it. Prayer is a call to humility. It is a call to self-purification, to inward search." (Yogi, p440)

As we move away from false securities and journey toward the land of likeness, it feels right to spend longer periods of time in prayer. Our appreciation of what God has done for us helps us to pray always (1 Thes 5:17). (Dark Night, p35)

Prayer involves speaking and listening on both sides. It is a trap to think that good works are more important than prayer. Prayer requires "quality time." It can't be done "on the run." We should give him the best we have. I decided to give God the first hour of my day. (Gift of Peace, p4-6)

Pray while you're well because if you wait until you're sick you might not be able to do it. You may still have faith but just too preoccupied with the pain to be able to focus on prayer. (Gift of Peace, p67)

God really does help us live fully even in the worst of times. And the capacity to do precisely this depends upon the deepening of our relationship to God through prayer. And the effect of that first hour doesn't end when the hour is up. Without prayer, you cannot be connected or you cannot remain united with the Lord. (Gift of Peace, p96-7,100)

See PRAYER2.WPD document for "My Personal Prayer." (Randy)

When praying, meditating, or contemplating thought and feeling should be first and foremost with an attitude of love. (Randy)

Prayer s/n be morning and evening, but continuously as we do things. St. Paul said to "pray always" which puts an attitude of prayer into everything we do. (SRC, 12/12/96)

You will not get to him by the Bible or the churches alone. People must learn to pray and be one with him. (Awakening, p233)

Lives full of busyness become a blur unless they are brought into focus during prayer. In praaayer we find the meaning of our lives. Prayer creates that virginal space in which the Lord can speak to us and show us the direction of our lives. (ThemesNT, p127)

According to the Baltimore catechism, "Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God." It is not we who do the lifting, but the work only of the Spirit. Reflection is an important preliminary to prayer, but it is not prayer. (Open Mind, p14)

Prayer consists of discursive meditation (reflection), affective prayer, and contemplation. (Open Mind, p20)

Prayer is not designed to change God, but to change us. (Open Mind, p62)

Prayer is not only for Sundays. Prayer is an offering, and everything you do should be in a form of prayer and thanksgiving. (IAM, p41)

It is better to sit quietly and absorb His Presence, to say, "I love You," and mean it with your whole heart than to say, out of repetition and habit, a list of prayers! (IAM, p56)

The devil laughs at our work, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. (???)

Scripture was written with prayer and should be understood with prayer. (Dei Verbum)

Prayer means the shedding of thought. It is rather an intuitive apprehension of God. It will result in a sense of the unity of all things and the loss of ego. By systematically weaning our minds away from our passions - such as pride, greed, sadness or anger - we can transcend ourselves. (Hist, p221)

Hearing sermons about God is a very different thing from praying to Him and adoring Him. The latter is what God requires from His children; the former is what man prefers to do, as something easier and more agreeable. (Rebld, p172)

Love is the essence of prayer, not thinking. (Purif, p204)

True prayer is the method, the visualization, that God expects us to see

in discerning his will and implementing it in the physical dimension. His

kingdom come, his will be done, on Earth, as it is in heaven. (Tenth, p223)

Our Father (all of us are children of God in his spiritual image);

Who art in heaven (holy and transcendent w/ omni);

Hallowed be Thy name, (praise/glory/exalt to your character/personality; those who know thy name put their trust in thee)

(as we walk in the Lord's name, as we talk w/ Him, the clearer that name becomes. For He reveals Himself to

us in our lifes);

Thy Kingdom come, (sovereignty/rule of God as King)

Thy Will be done (surrender ourselves from doing our will and having faith

to doing God's will)

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread (Father ‑ Present; we must have faith

that God will provide for us (and not worry) all of our needs.

And forgive us our debts as we forgive those who debt us (Son ‑ Past)

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Holy Spirit ‑ Fut)

For thy is the kindom, and the power, and the glory, now and forever.

Amen (let it be so) (Sermon on the Mountain)

Meditating on the Lord's prayer when said backwards gives a different angel on my relationship with God because it seems to climax with the word "Thy Kingdom Come, Hallowed be thy name" and concludes with "our Father who art in heaven". Perhaps this backwards approach is more meaningful for us sinful souls to realize that we are children of God and that heaven may be simply holiness which is sacred (separate). (Randy)

Prayer is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2713)

By praying constantly we involve God in our total life. ( )

A complete prayer ought to contain 4 distinct elements. 1: There must be praise and thanksgiving and paying reverence to the principle and embodiment of goodness and love. 2: Then follows confession and repentance. Having just thanked God for his gifts, we have to acknowledge that wee have made him a poor return, and sinned both against him and neighbors. Recognition of faults does in practice help to correct them. 3: We must intend to conduct ourseleves in a certain way, to give a religious dimension to our normal, professional or worldly activities, to dedicate and commit to positive virtue. 4: Finally come the requests. We need help from God in carrying through our intentions, especially our efforts to improve ourselves and avoid sin." (Quest, p194-5)

In the end, that is what the love and woeship of God is all about: to turn our minds, and if possible our bodies too, away from earthliness to perfection, from doubt to certitude, from the self to goodness, and from flesh to the spirit. This act of turning should become second nature and then we cease to need to turn, but become one with the great spirit in whom alone we find peace and our destiny. (Quest, p202)

Prayer is no longer thought to be petition, but now more general being both petition and thanking (meditation). Prayer is conversing with God; feeling God's presence by lifting our mind and hearts; being open to God; acknowledging, asking, thanking, wrestling with God; whenever you are aware of God; whenever we stop running from Him and SURRENDER to God. Note that our job in this life is to surrender to God. The word comes from preycaria (greek?) for "to beg". Prayer is really initiated by God by giving us the longing. When we pray are we looking for the consolations rather than Himself? The Lord's Prayer is also known as the Convenant Prayer because we praise God and ask God, in addition, "forgive us as we forgive those". Methods/types of prayer are simply talking, writing (ie. journal), focus on God's presence, paraphase (ie. of other prayers, psalms), imagination, with scripture (ie. daily readings), consideration (ie. "consider that lilies of the field"), centering (ie. mantra - focusing jelps keep out distractions). (Sr Marise May at SRC, Summer '96)

What a wonderful contradiction, this idea of simple prayer providing great power. Prayer leads you to see new paths and to hear new melodies in the air. Prayer is the breath of your life which gives to you to find the many signs which point the way to a new land. Praying is living. Perhaps true life, like prayer, is found in the simple gifts of God. (July 96 Chapel Call, Rev Thomas)

Praying for God's help reminds us that we are not in control of the world or even of our own life, while reminding us that we are living IN THE PRESENCE of an infinite and eternal being. We consider God's will for us. If we pray with wilingness to "listen", this will make us more sensitive to the pull of God so we in fact may get an "answer" by becoming aware of the direction in which we need to go to live towards God. (Common Sense, p223)

And to the extent that we are serious in our prayers for justice or peace or healing for others we become allies with God in the struggle for these, and we proceed from prayer to right ACTION. Prayer is not meant to be in lieu of action. (Common Sense, p224)

If God did not specifically cause us to be fed or clothed or housed or otherwise fortunate, for what should we be giving thanks? First of all, for a universe constructed in such a way as to make all these things possible. For creation itself; for life itself. Secondly, we give thanks to God for the pull to wholeness and goodness which results in so many particular concrete instances of good. And third, to help us appreciate the many blessings, to rekindle in us the sense of wonder and awe and gratitude in response to all that we so often and so cavalierly take for granted. (Common Sense, p224)

Dialogue in Christian prayer reaches its perfection when it is no longer "my dialogue with God" but "Christ's dislogue with the Father in me." Real Christian prayer is not my prayer but Christ's prayer. It is the voice of Christ within my soul crying out "Abba, Father!" "It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me." (Zen, p28)

The goals we seek through [prayer] practice are wisdom and compassion, not some permanent tingle. (Purif, p184)

Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. (Luke 11:5)