Mar 25, 2010, 12.00am IST
Janina Gomes.
The great body of rituals and prayers passed on to us from our ancestors might indeed help us get in touch with God.
However, there is room yet for personal prayer, which is more like a hotline to God. Personal prayer has the power of personal experience, making the communion truly intimate.
William Law says: "It is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they may be; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they be; nor the music of our prayers, how sweet our voice may be; nor the logic of our prayers, how argumentative they may be; nor the method of our prayers, how orderly they may be that counts." In short, true prayer is that which comes from the heart.
The need for God finds expression in new ways and we begin life anew every day of our lives. It might help if we keep short accounts with God, so that we live from day-to-day and minute-to-minute in communion with God.
There are many ways in which we are called to experience God. The quest for exploration in the outer world is as important as the quest for exploration of the inner world. The urge put into the heart of human beings to transcend, to excel, to be and to love, all come from God.
Prayer, like divinity, cannot be measured. While prayer helps us to stretch ourselves, our imagination, the outer circumference and the inner quality of our lives, there is always something left over to seek and find. The search for Truth is inexhaustible indeed.
The human quest for territory and inner space remain difficult and arduous for all those who live to conquer. Seekers have to take to new paths and explore new ground as a prelude to the heavenly vision, in which: "The eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither had it entered into the heart of man, the things which God had prepared for them that love him".
We all have to learn to scale mountain tops and prayer gives us the courage to move from the lowlands, where the mundane and the lowest common denominator drag us away from our true destiny, to the purity and pristine air of the mountain tops.
It is said that prayer can accomplish more than any other force in the world. Prayer can heal. It can repair relationships. It can bring peace. It can change hearts. Prayer can transform.
There is nothing we do or hope to do that cannot be bettered by personal prayer. That is because prayer does not allow us to remain within the narrow confines of self-interest. Prayer always enlarges our reach, so that we become less selfish and more caring, connecting with all life and God.
In prayer, we hear the very echo of what we have prayed for. If our prayer has been unselfish and we have been true to ourselves, we might receive the gifts we have asked for. Even if we don't get what we want, we acquire the ability to accept the things we cannot change, graciously.
As we move from one level of prayer to another, our lives take on added meaning and our human relationships are touched by the divine. We begin to see in others the true reflection of a caring and loving God and all of creation in intimate union with Him.
Prayer reveals to us God's grace. He gives us the privilege of experiencing miracles a new dawn, a new day with all its little moments, a new life in which we ask forgiveness to build a world full of love.
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