A prayer utters itself

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.

Darkness in prayer

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.

The duty of prayer

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.

March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)

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

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
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As your prayer becomes deeper

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 You will hear the busy hum of that world as a distant exterior melody, and know yourself to be in some way withdrawn from it.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
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Sending out love everywhere

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

~ by Robert Lax
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Be with us this day

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
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Two dimensions to prayer

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
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Prayer permeates a sick body

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
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Routine work can be transformed into prayer

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
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Every moment in life is a 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
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In the dark of the night I wait and watch

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
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A prayer utters itself

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
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Darkness in prayer

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
Susan M. Tiberghien Circling To The Center prayer Buy on Amazon

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

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
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The duty of prayer

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
Ohiyesa, Santee Tribe prayer

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

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
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The inner bath of love

Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges.
~ by John Vianney
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Fear that has said its prayer

Courage is fear that has said its prayer...
~ by Dorothy Bernard
Dorothy Bernard prayer

January 2003 (Vol. XVI, Vol. 1)

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

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
Danny Martin Sacred Journey prayer

How does a heart touched by God pray?

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
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Prayer is the most potent instrument of action

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

~ by Gandhi
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The wish to pray

The wish to pray is prayer.

~ by G. Bernanos
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The seed of prayer

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
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Rend your mind deaf and dumb

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
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As we grow in the way of prayer

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
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Prayer is always true to itself

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
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Prayer becomes a connection to those we do not know

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

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

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
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Prayer is necessary for the life of the spirit

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

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
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I speak of prayer, not words

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
S. John Chrysostom prayer

Beloved you love us and call us by name

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
Anonymous prayer

Prayer is to the human heart

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

~ by Tessa Bielecki
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What appears to be indigestible can become real nourishment for prayer

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
A. I. Okumura Awakening To Prayer prayer Buy on Amazon

Prayer is participation

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.

How does a heart touched by God pray?

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.

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