“[Job] yells at God, accuses God of all kinds of things, speaks sarcastically, almost makes fun of God. ‘If this is a game you’re playing, then you’re not much of a God! I don’t need you and I don’t want you’—it’s that kind of prayer that creates saints. You can’t pray that way, with that authority, unless you know something, unless you are assured at a deep level of a profound relatedness between the two of you, unless you can venture into that arena where we say angels fear to tread.”
~Richard
Rohr,
Prayer is not about communication as much as it is about relationship. It is in prayer that we meet, in a personal and intimate way, the God who loves us. No matter what form our daily prayer takes––reading the Scripture, meditating on the life or the writings of a saint, saying the rosary, it is important that we also include as part of our prayer time a time for silence, a time for us to learn to listen.
When we go to silent prayer, we open our hearts to the Truth that God is present in that moment. By the mere act of sitting, silently and asking God into our space, into our moment, we are proclaiming with our bodies and our wills what our heart has always known––God is here. God is Love. And God wants me grow in the knowledge of that Love.
~from
my book, The Journey:
It is
my delight today to introduce to you Nora Payan, a remarkable, inspirational--and prayerful woman that I had the pleasure of meeting at my recent retreat for the Diocese of Austin, “Writing as Prayer.”
Nora
has been kind enough to grant me permission to share one of the writing pieces that she wrote during our retreat.
Bare
Lord here I am
bare to the core.
I surrender my life to you,
guide me, show me what to do.
You are my be-loved heavenly father.
Let me know and feel your presence,
show me the way.
I put all my trust in you,
and I anxiously wait to go
home to you, for all eternity.
© Nora Payan, 2013
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| Cedarbrake Renewal Center, 2013 |
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