Prayer 101

The result of prayer is life

prayer irrigates the

earth and

heart

                                St Francis of Assisi

_______________________________

You need to pray

they say

I am praying for you

The pronounce

and I have never known

quite how to respond

you would think they would teach you

about prayer in seminary

that there would be a

course

prayer 101

that one would develop a

theology of prayer

perhaps some do

for me prayer has always been a mystery

I have been torn between

my image of prayer

as some sort of

practice involving

thee’s and thou’s

a matter of solemn words

a time when one

literally gets on one’s

knees

and

and what?

begs?

worships?

fulfills a

filial duty

but my prayers never

irrigated the earth

and rarely

my heart

I hear people speak

and say to myself

“now that’s a prayer”

but for me the words

rattle around in my head

but

ah but there are those moments

when something happens

something which is mystical and alive

something happens

as I walk through the beauty of paradise

as I look at a new born child

or stroke the cat curled in my lap

something happens as I stroll through freshly fallen snow

something happens when I feel the pain of another

or my own pain

when something out of the depths

of my soul rises up

and

moves toward

and touches

something big

someone big

something that is love

and then it flows

love?

spirit?

hope, healing?

Joy?

Yes, yes, yes

All of that

It is often wordless

this movement

toward and from

from and toward

but it is then that I know

God is there

and I am here

it is then my heart

comes

alive

prayer