Prayer is not primarily something we are doing to God,
something we are giving to God but what God is doing for us. And what God is
doing for us is giving the divine Self in love.
Quiet,
contemplative prayer happens
when we are still and open ourselves to Christ’s Spirit working secretly in us,
when we heed the psalmist’s plea: “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalms
46:10). These are times when we trustingly sink into God’s formless hands for
cleansing, illumination, and communion.
In prayer, we know we’re not being manipulated, we’re not
being used, we’re not being judged, we’re not being evaluated. Who wouldn’t
want to go there? It’s the place of ultimate freedom.
We can imagine God as our
intimate friend, with whom we share everything. We can talk to the Divine about
our needs, complaints, and difficulties. We can ask for advice, offer
thanksgiving, and make acts of faith or reparation for our sins. We can seek
guidance for our children, or shed tears about illness and death.
Prayer is the longing of the human heart for God. It is a
yearning and desire for relationship with God, and it is God’s attention to our
desire: God-in-communion with us.
Excerpted from the Center for Action And
Contemplation
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