3.6.23 Our definition of prayer these days is mostly confined to spoken/memorized prayers and petitions to God for ourselves and others. That’s a small container for what prayer can be: it is meant to be an ongoing dialogue with God about where we are and what we’re asking for in our lives and then listening […]

If we are praying for sick people, for problems to be eliminated in our lives, for something to change to the way we like it, for our kids to follow our suggestions after they leave home, we can often be disappointed in the responses to our prayers. God doesn’t think like we do or answer […]

  Prayer is so much more than saying the Lord’s prayer or petitioning for our own, our family and friends’ health or other issues. Not that these aren’t important, even vital for us. But the broadest definition of prayer is, I believe, spending time in the presence of God. That is, sitting in silence in […]

  The answers to our prayers don’t always give us what we asked for; they can seem like a denial to us; they can take a long time coming; or sometimes, they give us just what we asked for. How we deal with the answers to our prayers says a great deal about how much […]

Recently, I was drawn to reread Neil Douglas-Klotz’s book, Prayers of the Cosmos: Reflections on the Original Meaning of Jesus’s Words. In it he focuses on the Aramaic meaning of Jesus’s words in the Lord’s Prayer, the Beatitudes and more. We take for granted that the meaning of these passages is from our perspective today, […]

  Over the last three weeks I’ve written about the three petitions in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer, “give us today our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Today I want to talk about the beginning and the […]

“Prayer is not primarily saying words or thinking thoughts. It is, rather, a stance. It’s a way of living in the Presence, living in awareness of the Presence, and even enjoying the Presence.”[1]   So often I think that we limit prayer to just another ”should” in our lives. “I should pray for myself and […]

“Prayer is not primarily saying words or thinking thoughts. It is, rather, a stance. It’s a way of living in the Presence, living in awareness of the Presence, and even enjoying the Presence. The contemplative is not just aware of God’s Loving Presence, but trusts, allows, and delights in it.”[1] [1] Fr. Richard Rohr daily […]

“As the deer pants for streams of living water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” [Psalm 42] Your presence is an essential to my life, your guidance what I live by, your healing and transformation my joy, your insights into loving you carry me, your inspiration that I depend upon for my blog […]

Following all the heroes of the Old and New Testaments we aspire to be servants of God. From Abraham to Moses, from David to Isaiah, from Mary to John the Baptist, from Peter to Paul, we have prime examples of those men and women who heard the voice of God and followed it as best […]