To walk where there is no path To breathe where there is no air To see where there is no light - This is Faith.
To cry out in the silence, The silence of night, And hearing no echo believe And believe again and again - This is Faith.
To hold pebbles and see jewels To raise sticks and see forests To smile with weepings eyes - This is Faith.
To say: "God, I believe" when others deny, "I hear" when there is no answer, "I see" though naught is seen - This is Faith.
And the fierce love in the heart, The savage love that cries Hidden Thou art yet there! Veil Thy face and mute Thy tongue Yet I see and hear Thee, Love, Beat me down to the bare earth, Yet I rise and love Thee, Love! This is Faith.
*Amatu'l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, Bahá’í, 1910-2000
* * *
Saying: As long as a person sees prayer as an option or a luxury rather than a necessity, that person will not be a person of prayer.
A woman said to the Sage, "Wow! What did you think of that man's prayer? Wasn't it wonderful?" Said the Sage, "Yes, quite wonderful, until he decided to open his mouth and say something."
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
* * *
Howard Thurman. Meditations of the Heart -
The place of prayer and meditation in the life of the modern person is limited and hedged in by the multiplicity of details to which attention must be given as a normal part of daily experience. It is true that in some sense a person's whole life may be regarded as his or her prayer. Ordinarily, what one does is an expression of intent, and the intent is the focusing of desiring, and those desires are the prayers of the person's heart. But such explanations are far from satisfactory. There is no argument needed for the necessity of taking time out for being alone, for withdrawal, for being quiet without and still within. The sheer physical necessity is urgent because the body and the entire nervous system cry out for the healing waters of silence.
* * *
Sometimes, we are surprised how prayer arises when we stop trying to do a prayer. Spiritual prayer is not an act of the person, it is an effulgence of the spirit.
There are many ways to welcome prayer to arise. What are some of these ways? What ways do you find most helpful for you?
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
