Why pray?

[DebChris]

I believe that I am willing to listen, but, since I don’t hear him, I guess I have to assume that I am not willing to listen, or that he is not talking.

Why so…subtly? Why speak to me in a way that can be easily dismissed, or confused with something much more commonplace? It would seem reasonble that if he has something to say, he would say it in such a way that there can be no mistake that he is speaking to me.

Can we hear God if we are always the person talking?
God is as near as our next breath. As one person has already posted, he was not in the thunder or the earthquake when Isaiah waited, but in the still quiet voice, the whisper.
What do you ask of your daughter when you want her to listen? Teachers in schools know that yelling is tuned out. They will often speak quietly. They have learned from experience that children will quiet themselves in order hear what is being said.
God ask the same of us, “Be still and know that I am God.”
Let’s move this into an adult relationship, and how this listening takes shape. My husband and I could have some very heated arguments. Usually one of us would finally realize how silly we were being, make a silly statement that would bring us to laughter and the argument to an end. Only then could we make up. Only then could we listen to one another.
Often when we think of communication, we think about one person talking and the other person listening. Yet in the deepest conversation I ever had with my husband, neither one of us spoke. We simply listened.
In my earlier post, I stated that prayer is more than the memorized formulas that most of us have memorized from youth. It is more than the recitation of Our Father and Hail Mary as we recite the rosary. Praying the rosary should bring us into meditation of the mysteries of our Faith, allowing those mysteries to become a part of who we are and what we believe.
Beyond meditation, there is contemplation, there is entry into what is called the Cloud of Unknowing, a deep abiding in the love of God. This is where we want our prayer to bring us, into the depths of the relationship where we are transformed into His very image. As John the Baptist said, “I must decrease that He might increase.”
We become the visible image of Christ to the world, a world so often lacking in genuine love.

 

[Rico_S]

That is what is wrong with some people today. They want for themselves. Maybe if you look beyond your need to know God exists, and pray for the poor. Pray for other’s safety.

It is quite incredible that, based on facts that I don’t hear God’s voice and am looking for “proof,” that you have discerned I am a self-centered boar. Did God tell you this?

 

[Rico_S]

I appreciate this post, Deb. I know you are trying to be helpful.

But is it necessarily true that if I don’t hear God’s voice, I must be talking too much? That I am not contemplative? Granted, I don’t sit out in the woods, close my eyes and meditate on the glory of God…but I do consider myself a… thoughtful individual. My mind is often quiet.

Also:

Often when we think of communication, we think about one person talking and the other person listening. Yet in the deepest conversation I ever had with my husband, neither one of us spoke. We simply listened.

I can’t really relate to this statement, simply b/c I don’t see how one can listen if nothing is being communicated. I mean, yes, I can see that sitting on the couch quietly cuddling with my wife while playing with her hair is a communication process where nothing is said. But certainly you don’t sit at home alone while your husband is away somewhere else and and believe you are “communicating” in some way. I dunno…maybe I am wrong.

What do you ask of your daughter when you want her to listen?

When I want her to listen, I call her name. This is the way it is in our family. My children know that when their name is spoken, they are needed…and they are to respond. If my child does not hear her name b/c she is in another room, or distracted by loud music…I do not feel that my daughter is somehow at fault in breaking the communication process. I do not think it is her self-centeredness or arrogance that is keeping her from hearing me…it is b/c…well, she can’t hear me. As her father, if I truly want to communicate something her, I will then have to go to her and get her attention. If I go to her room stand outside and blow in the keyhole…well that is pretty unlikely to get her attention and I think it would be a bit ridiculous of me to believe that she is at fault for not hearing me blow in the key hole. I could stand and wait outside until she is less distracted and try again to call her name. Or I could knock and/or enter her room, stand in front of her to get her attention and then speak her name.

 

[DebChris]

The history of the Catholic Church is full of stories of saints who heard God’s voice. St. Francis heard “Rebuild my Church” and thought God was speaking of San Damenco.
There are stories of Fatima and Lourdes where children saw visions of Our Lady or Juan Domingo who built a church in Mexico City after his vision of Our Lady of Guadaloupe.
We hear these stories, and ask why them and not me.
I do not have an answer that will readily answer this question.
I do know, however, that sometimes when we least expect it, God does answer not only in the subtle message of friends, but in the still quiet voice heard by Isaiah. Some of us do receive vocal messages, each of which is of course subject to discernment to insure that we are not merely hallucinating or that our imagination has been carried away.
Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice and follow. They will not follow another.”
Whether or not we receive this verbal affirmation that God exists, we are still called to pray, to respond in faith to the gift of grace that we have received, to trust even when we cannot see.
His ways are beyond our ways.

 

[John_Russell_Jr]

My dear friend

To do Gods will always is to pray always. Doing Gods will is a form of prayer. This is what St paul meant. I believe all living things in our world pray without ceasing by doing Gods will, except us perhaps. All the more reason why my friend should not have shooed and stomped on my pet cockroach who lived under my door mat out front today. Roach was doing no harm, has just as much right to live here as us, and was praying by doing Gods will. i’m not a fanatic about nature but to senselessly crush our fellow creatures because we don’t like them makes no sense. Roach was Gods pet and loved by god. He was my pet too. in spite of that I’ve had a great day. i hope people don’t think me a nut because I loved roach. I’m just trying to imitate God.

To pray to God is to love God and the preeminent expression of love we can show to God. In heaven we shall offer the prayer of love to God eternally. Why not try to do it without ceasing now?

God bless you:thumbsup:
John

 

[DebChris]

I don’t know how many on this thread have read the love letter linked to this post.
Often we do think of communication as simply being verbal, of one person speaking and the other listening with his/her ears.
Yet there is so much more to communication than talking and hearing. Communication occurs between man and woman as eyes meet across a crowded room, in the gentle caress of a loved one when we are hurt and lonely, as a father lifts a child into his arms and hugs her. Even before a child can talk, there is communication between the infant who cries in his/her need and the mother who holds this child in her arms. There can be deep communication between a husband and wife in their simply being present to one another.
maurywebpages.com/loveletter.htm

If you did hear your name called in the middle of the name, would you respond as Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

 

[MarieVeronica]

I don’t have a bible at my desk, but I do have a calculator.

Rico, you have a very good sense of humor. lol. Seriously, thanks for making me chuckle. But there is a BIG difference between a calculator and a Bible.

The Bible is the Word. The Word is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. The Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, became the Son of Man. The Son of Man is Jesus… Who died and rose from the dead, for the salvation of all. The Bible CAN talk to us.

As far as I can see… a calculator doesn’t have a “history” like that. Don’t take your calculators “word” for anything.

God bless you.

 

[DebChris]

Rico, you have a very good sense of humor. lol. Seriously, thanks for making me chuckle. But there is a BIG difference between a calculator and a Bible.

The Bible is the Word. The Word is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. The Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, became the Son of Man. The Son of Man is Jesus… Who died and rose from the dead, for the salvation of all. The Bible CAN talk to us.

As far as I can see… a calculator doesn’t have a “history” like that. Don’t take your calculators “word” for anything.

God bless you.

Except maybe that 2 + 2 = 4.

A freeing statement from the orientation to the Theology class I never took. “When you read the Bible, don’t look for the answers, look for the questions.” In the process you may actually find answers to questions you not even know you had.

 

[Convert66]

In my own experience I have found that prayer is the first and most persistent lesson of faith. The silence and unknowing and yet still seeking in prayer is faith at work.

The call to prayer is the constant invitation to dash yourself against the rocks and see what remains of you afterward. Faith that never wills, but only feels itself to prayer is simply weak. It is precisely when we do not hear, do not feel, and even do not believe that prayer is having it’s best work with us, as long as we persist.

Obedience is fundamental, and the silence and “deafness” of God to our emotions is the first battleground. Fix your will to celebrate the silence and “dryness.” Celebrate and rejoice because you are still there regardless, and this is the evidence that God is changing you: you still pray. If this is your cross then be glad. God is answering your requests with what you truly need and is prerequisite. If you do not hear, it is because you can not hear yet. There is something first that must be broken against the rock of God’s seeming indifference. Now, do you trust that He is not indifferent to you, or do you need more evidence than the Cross?

All my best . . .

P.S. I hope it doesn’t come across as pedantic. It’s just that I stumbled over a similar agnosticism about prayer for a good number of years until the paradox of prayer started to come clear.

 

[MarieVeronica]

Except maybe that 2 + 2 = 4.

A freeing statement from the orientation to the Theology class I never took. “When you read the Bible, don’t look for the answers, look for the questions.” In the process you may actually find answers to questions you not even know you had.

 

[Oblaidon]

It is quite incredible that, based on facts that I don’t hear God’s voice and am looking for “proof,” that you have discerned I am a self-centered boar. Did God tell you this?

I didn’t say you will a self-centered boar. Do you really, really want to hear God?

You must deny yourself. You have to make sacrifices. You have to give up your earthly thought. Go to the Church and kneel in front of the tabernacle. Read John Chapters 18 and 19. Concentrate on what Christ went through so you could be saved. You have to break down your outer wall and pray. Can you do that? Can you do it every day in week? a month? a year? Can you give up what you covet? Can you make sacrifices?

Rico. I think God has something to say to everyone. You may not physically hear him, but try to understand what he is saying to you.