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'Prayer' by Debra Classen
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.
Caught
in a ray of light, floating dust particles appear illuminated,
sparkling particles dance heavenward. Prayers may be the dirt and dust
of our life, the worries and concerns we lift heavenward hopeful for
illumination. The real tragedy of our modern culture is lives darkened,
because they no longer dwell in the richness of a life illuminated by
prayer.
-Matthew 7:7
Call it what you may; meditation, quiet time, chanting, yoga,
bowing to Mecca, connecting with nature--it exists since the beginning
of time and in every faith. Science has now discovered that we may
“meditate so deeply that it seems that the very boundaries of our body
dissolve.” The parietal lobe
of our brain processes sensory input and may inspire this experiential
and transporting effect when we pray. Our brains and our bodies contain
spiritual wiring and a large body of scientific evidence now suggests
that "during very deep prayer, the parietal lobe powers down, which is
what allows us to experience that sense of having loosed our earthly
moorings."*
Some
are frightened by the term "prayer", not wanting to become one of those
strange, pious people mumbling to themselves, living alone in a cave,
or joining some cultish group trying to round up and convert a sinful
humanity. How much does prayer intrude on one's life, how much does it
help? In our scientific, evidence based society prayer may seem a
doubtful and unproven activity to put your trust into. Science and
technology promise to communicate, educate, fix, control or transport
us faster and better than ever before, leaving prayer to seemingly
boarder on magical or wishful thinking. Yet prayer offers everything
our modern technological society promises; at our immediate disposal,
and the only cost is our time.
Prayer
is a form of communication with our Creator that transcends geography,
time, even a human life. Wherever we are, whatever problems we are
steeped in that are distressing and threatening to overwhelm us, we can
unburden our heavy hearts and lift them up to God. We can weep, lament,
praise, curse, beg or thank God and He listens. We may think we must
come with an appropriate tone or posture, but God puts no such
restrictions on us. He wants us to come with all of it. No matter the
training, education, experience, or expertise no professional compares
or can be trusted with what God readily and lovingly accepts.
Prayer is the soul's encounter with God.
Prayer does battle with all that is wrong in our lives, giving witness
to a fearful and troubled humanity.Yet prayer is not about a good
feeling, although that can and may sometimes be a part of it. The great
mystics and contemplatives, who devoted their lives to prayer, remained
skeptical of seeking good feelings from their prayers. And it seems that for many, just when prayer was most needed, the font of
prayer would cease to flow, quite suddenly drying up. Those with a rich
prayer life
have been known to have their prayer life become laboriously difficult.
Desperately seeking answers and comfort, there may seem to be little
consolation at a time of critical illness, or when overwhelming despair
and doubt threatened to engulf one’s being. Sometime, in the worst of
circumstances we may learn a sobering and paradoxical lesson; these are
the times when we must rely on the prayers of others. We must beseech
others to pray on our behalf.
Why
would God be so far away now? It seems cruel and unfair, yet on
another level the faithful intuitively sense that God is there all the
time. We are reminded of just how dependent we all are on one another
for love, prayer, for survival. One would imagine that prayer, like
most things, would become better with practice and we could cash in for
big results at important times. But spiritual enlightenment
is elusive and mysterious; a gift that seldom arrives as a reward or
prize for the number of hours in prayer. It is surprising to learn that
many saints, our human models of prayer, have experienced aridity in
prayer and even a “dark night of the soul”
at critical and even desperate moments. Later they may discover astounding clarity of spiritual insights, in quite
ordinary circumstances, or even spiritual illumination because of their
“dark night”.
Many
of the Saints seemed to subsist on little sleep or substance, unable to
do enough in a day to accomplish God's mission while on earth. How did
they do it? Mother Teresa,
while entering her ninth decade was still traveling the world, daily
scrubbing the floors of her Mission house and tending to the sick and
dying. Those who knew her claimed she “ran on prayer." No matter how
busy, prayer was the essential and primary commitment carved out of
every day, making everything else, and anything else possible.
Prayer
is the velvet armor worn against all the ugliness, sin and sadness of
the world. Prayer engages us in an intimate depth of loving dialogue,
caressing us so that we are able to face the world with gentle
strength. Wrapped in this mantle of love we surrender and allow God to
have His way. He may astonish, wound, delight, laugh, love, kiss, and
use us. The intimate dialogue of prayer is both grace and gift. It
remains the absolute basis of our existence, a beautiful and much needed witness in our world today, to an all loving God.
* Kluger, Jeffrey. Time Magazine, “The Biology of Belief”, Thurs., Feb. 12, 2009.
Posted by Debra Classen at 9/4/2009 3:34 PM 
Categories: Reflections, Prayer
Tags: prayer communication God meditation
Categories: Reflections, Prayer
Tags: prayer communication God meditation
Please help us in the fight against Lyme disease--it is a very vicious disease and my husband is battling it with all he has left in him...we need your prayers and support if you are so able...we are fighting Lyme for everyone for you see had my husband been diagnosed properly many years ago we would not be in the battle for his life right now--he has suffered much and continues as he is on IV treatment 2x daily-- very painful, very exhausting-- God has Blessed my husband with the Gift of Music -- he has played piano since he was a young boy and I have compiled some of his beautiful- spiritfilled - peaceful piano pieces on a music CD called: "COLE ON AN ANGEL'S WING" all original all straight from the heart . This is our mission to bring the beauty of my husband's music to everyone everywhere to enjoy -- and to raise awareness and support in the fight against Lyme disease -- to benefit many--Please pray -Please Help: www.LymeConnection.com
I come from a long line of very devout faith filled Catholics and most days I am able to know deep in my heart that Our Lord is with us and His Blessed Mother but there are other days that I am equally convinced that the Good Lord has us mixed up with some one else .....
Julie Cole
850-892-9837
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