Prayer is a big word with a myriad of meanings. St. Ignatius Loyola wrote that, “everything that turns a person in the direction of God is prayer.” So what turns me toward God? Let me count the ways: Silence, of course, but also great music, which is just about opposite of silence (although there’s lots of silence in a great piece of music). Good spiritual reading, whether scripture or something more contemporary. A walk in the woods. Staring at the night sky. Going to church. Both being alone and being with good friends. Quietly contemplating my life and God’s movement in it. Singing at the top of my lungs. Holding my wife or children or grandchild. Reciting prayers I have known for years and which have been prayed for hundreds or even thousands of years. Or just talking to God as if he was an old friend sitting beside me on the couch — someone who knows me better than I know myself.
I’ve talked to people who tell me they do not know how to pray or that they “can’t pray.” But that is perhaps because they think there is some way that they are “supposed” to pray. To that I say (one of my favorite words): Balderdash. Prayer, to play off Ignatius’ thought, is turning your attention to God while doing something that you probably already enjoy doing — walking, listening to music, writing in your journal, sitting quietly. That part’s up to you. God doesn’t care. Perhaps the best piece of advice on prayer I ever heard came from the English priest and writer, John Chapman. He wrote (and oh, how this makes sense): “Pray as you can, not as you can’t.”
Ask yourself in silence: What am I doing when I feel closest to God? How can I pray?
13 comments On Today’s Word: Prayer
This is a great series, Steve. I agree with all you have mentioned but I have to add another prompt for prayer…..rush hour traffic! Or simply driving to work. I don’t mean to be irreverent here. I used to use those few minutes on the way to school to turn my day over to the Almighty and ask for guidance. And guess what. Classes always were awesome when I remembered to do that.
Thanks, JL…agree with you 100 percent. Time in my car is often time to pray…and your classes were ALWAYS
awesome! Don’t know if I can keep up the “daily” pace but I’m going to try for a while, or at least shoot for 3-4 a week. Thanks for reading.
Steve, I agree with Judi : – this IS a great series!
It is wonderful to know, .. and to get confirmation that, … whatever we do, which bring us close to God, is prayer!
So I shall be more mindful to begin with another prayer (of thanksgiving, as in “Grace before meals”, ) before my game of tennis, which I enjoy very much with good friends.
And indeed, oftentimes I do thank the Lord for the years of tennis I’ve played, which has kept me relatively healthy. These are some of his abundant gifts to me.
This realisation of God’s love, turns my thoughts back to Him… so it is a beautiful cycle!
Steve, THANKS!
Anthony.
Hi Steve,
Prayers as taught to us in the Convent School in those yesteryears were staid and stereotyped. We learned the prayers by rote and none would dare step out of line by even reciting a single word wrong!
So It is indeed refreshing and heartening to read your take on what constitutes a prayer. I gratefully realise that many among the activities you mentioned are indeed being carried out by me without my realising that they could be prayerful! How encouraging that is!
Like walking under a canopy of trees, which always turns my thoughts to HIM. Or staring at the night sky, either dark and sombre or brilliantly lit up with twinkling starlight. I always feel a lump in my throat looking at the vastness of HIS creation and my thoughts turn to friends and relatives who have been called HOME and I offer a silent prayer that they are safe in His arms. Oftimes, the quietness of these moments inspire me to write poems which tear at the heart and tears stream down for no apparent reason.
Then there’s the singing! O how I love the singing sessions with a group of like-minded and of the same vintage group of people. We sing our hearts out, doing quite well in most but with some less than perfect renditions too! Still we plod on with gusto!
And yes, another Catholic friend and I would sometimes challenge each other to remember those Latin hymns we used to sing at Mass. Wow, my cup runneth over to even think that all these can be summed up as prayers.
Now I must try to talk to Him as a friend, as if He’s sitting on a park bench next to me. Indeed who can see through me better than Him.
Thank you Steve for yet another prayerful insight.
Lily
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What a different perspective becomes ours in each moment when we think of God first! It is amazing! At the same time, we know He is with us always, loving us as we are whether we are present to Him or not . . . so it is in our awareness of Him and His presence and presents (!) in all things – every thought and action, that enables us to see and feel each gifted moment for its meaning in our lives. For me, it could not be more true and is one form of prayer I try to keep before me every day.
I am really enjoying this series, Steve. Thank you!
Kathleen
Hi Steve,Thanks for your wonderful words of wisdom!Meditation and silence are my favorite forms of prayer.I start out the morning with 2 1-2 hours of silence with about 3 periods of meditation.Then,around 4 p.m.I go to a local Abbey for another 45 minutes of meditation in their quiet little chapel.Peace and blessings,Karen
Thanks again, Karen.You’re inspiring…
Thanks, Kathleen. You’ve got it…living with awareness of the holy around us is essential for prayer and for our spiritual development.
Thanks, Lily.
Thanks, Anthony. Llet me know if prayer helps your tennis game!
Haha, I’m sure it does, Steve!
Not having been a good player, when I started playing serious tennis(i.e. twice a week) in 2000, I find after 13 years, that I am little improved. This should set the scene in your mind of my bungling strokes, the easy giveaways, yes the unforced errors …(the list goes on), which should translate into fits of anger and many broken rackets! Instead, loud burst of laughter emanate, . . . and it is not always from me!
If what I do can generate good wholesome laughter, including from others, this is now understood by me to be prayer!
Yes, prayer helps :-when I remember to whisper a quick request to God, before winning a crucial (and lengthy) point…!
At my age, with legs not as strong as when I was working in the plantations, and to remain to this day relatively unscathed on the courts, is testimony of the power of prayer.
O, isn’t God great! “Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, : to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!”
Thanks Steve, what you have started is great. And this realisation, of WHAT constitutes prayer, makes me turn, more often, to God.
Anthony.
Thanks for sharing your reflections on prayer…I too am loving this series, Steve. Your reminder that prayer doesn’t have to be complicated or formal or a certain way brings to mind Carrie Newcomer’s song “The Yes of Yes” from her Bird or the Wing album:
I raise my hands to frame the light
I raise my voice in the middle of the night
I close my eyes when I start to sing
It’s a way of, way of praying
In the silence you surround my soul
In the laughter you can make me whole
I hold it all like some promise made
It’s a way of, way of praying
Thanks, Jill, and thanks for lunch today, as always. Love this song, and I don’t think I’ve heard. I’ll go buy it now!