Pineridge Blog

Prayer is...

I wanted to share something I read this week and really enjoyed from a great teacher on prayer,
Richard Rohr,

“Prayer is not a transaction that somehow pleases God but a trans-formation of the consciousness of the one doing the praying. Prayer is the awakening of an inner dialogue that, from God’s side, has never ceased. This is why Paul could write of praying ‘always’ (see 1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer is not changing God’s mind about us or about anything else, but allowing God to change our mind about the reality right in front of us (which we usually avoid or distort).

“When we put on a different mind, heaven takes care of it-self. In fact, it begins now. If we resort too exclusively to verbal, wordy prayers, we’ll remain stuck in our rational, dualistic minds and will not experience deep change at the level of consciousness. Prayer is sitting in the silence until it silences us, choosing gratitude until we are grateful, and praising God until we ourselves are an act of praise.

“Jesus tells his disciples, ‘Be awake. Be alert. . . . You do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, at cock crow, or in the morning’ (see Mark 13:33-35). Jesus is not threatening, ‘You’d better do it right, or I’m going to get you.’ He’s talking about the forever, eternal coming of Christ now . . . and now . . . and now. God’s judgment is always redemption. Christ is always com-ing. God is always present. It’s we who fall asleep.

“Be ready. Be present to God in the here and now, the ordi-nary, the interruptions. Being fully present to the soul of all things will allow you to say, ‘This is good. This is enough. In fact, this is all I need.’ You are now situated in the One Lov-ing Gaze that unites all things in universal attraction and ap-preciation. We are practicing for heaven. Why wait for heav-en when you can enjoy the Divine Flow in every moment, in everyone?” (from Daily Meditations 05/04/19)