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.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the transformative power of prayer and gratitude in creating an inner sense of peace and connection with the divine.
Richard Rohr's quote illustrates how engaging in prayer can lead one to a state of silence and stillness, allowing for deeper reflection and connection with the divine. It suggests that through consistent practice of gratitude and praise, individuals can transform their own lives to become embodiments of those virtues, thus deepening their relationship with God and enhancing their spiritual wellbeing.
In practice
In a church service to emphasize the importance of prayer.
My scientist friends have come up with things like 'principles of uncertainty' and dark holes. They're willing to live inside imagined hypotheses and theories. But many religious folks insist on answers that are always true. We love closure, resolution and clarity, while thinking that we are people of 'faith'! How strange that the very word 'faith' has come to mean its exact opposite.
The gift of darkness draws you to know God’s presence beyond what thought, imagination, or sensory feeling can comprehend.
I cannot illustrate huge differences between male and female spiritualities except in their starting points, style and fascinations along the way. This is significant, however, and has huge pastoral implications: men must be challenged in the world of doing; women must be challenged in the world of relating.
Much of the Christian religion has largely become “holding on” instead of letting go. But God, it seems to me, does the holding on (to us!), and we must learn the letting go (of everything else).
We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.
I've had the good fortune of teaching and preaching across much of the globe, while also struggling to make sense of my experience in my own tiny world.
Of all things, guard against neglecting God in the secret place of prayer.
Prayer might not change things, but it will change my perspective of things. Prayer might not change the past, but inevitably, it changes the present.
When we pray, we bring G-d into the world
Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us, but it is our fear, doubt, and sin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us.
Do not have as your motive the desire to be known as a praying man. Get an inner chamber in which to pray where no one knows you are praying, shut the door, and talk to God in secret.
Jesus' pattern prayer, which is both crutch, road, and walking lesson for the spiritually lame like ourselves, tells us to start with God: for God matters infinitely more than we do.
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