The mysteries of faith are degraded if they are made into an object of affirmation and negation, when in reality they should be an object of contemplation.
*Simone Weil
Any moment in which your being is open to Life, that moment is worship. Worship is not meant to be merely something you do at a place you go, but everywhere. In some sense, then, where you go, you are, you always have been. To feel Life, here and now, is to know G-D, G-D not as an abstract idea but as Life Itself, as Love, as your ~ our ~ Heart.
*Arem Nahariim-Samadhi
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A monk went into the woods to seek Christ. He had not felt his Lord’s Presence for a long time, and he could not understand this felt-absence of his Beloved. For before, he had seemed to walk in the glow of Grace daily. So, the Abbot graciously gave the monk permission for time in the hermitage on the mountain.
The monk got to the little hermitage. He, for several days, sought his Lord in fasting and prayer. He felt alone and cut off from Christ, still.
Frustrated with his failed efforts, he decided to eat. He ceased fasting and ate a meal and drank some wine, all which he enjoyed much. He, afterward, lay himself down to sleep as long as he wanted to. The monk had given up on feeling his Beloved near.
When the monk laid himself on the bed to sleep, something happened which surprised him. At that moment, for the first time in months, he felt the presence of his Beloved Friend, Christ. He went to sleep, with a smile and joy in his heart.
Calm, gentle openness, rather than zealous effortfulness, is central to the way of Prayerfulness. One could refer to this as loving attention to the Beloved, the Friend, or Grace. In Prayerfulness we receive, we are given to. In a profound sense, we are given to ourselves, in Love by Love. This makes Prayer a communion of Grace with Grace.
