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Prayer
by Father Paul Holland
St Michael’s Church
There is a story of a young Jesuit who wrote to the Pope and asked,
"When I pray may I smoke?" to which the Pope replied "No".
He wrote again and this time asked "When I smoke may I pray?"
to which came the answer 2Of course you can".
In everything we do there is room for prayer. So often we think of
prayer as a special activity we set aside for God, who is waiting for
us to get in touch with him.
However, St Paul tells us "In God we live and move and have our
being". We are already part of his life and his life is already
part of us. Our simple desire to pray to is in itself a prayer, his
life in us calling us back to Himself. Prayer is never our activity
but God`s activity in us, his Spirit prompting our spirit. We need to
learn to become sensitive to his invitation to be with Him wherever
we are.
How we express our prayer, our response to God's promptings will
be different for each one of us. Our prayer is as unique as our fingerprints
and we have to gain the confidence to express our relationship with
God in the way that comes naturally to us. "Pray as you can, not
as you can't" wrote a famous Benedictine monk. We so often
want our prayer to be serene and peaceful and when we have such moments
we must give thanks. However most of us call on God in moments of need
and distress. At such times words may fail us, but sharing our pain
is in itself our prayer. We can so often come to God feeling empty and
not really believing that he is there. This very sense of failure is
exactly where God can meet us. "None of us knows how to pray"
writes St Paul but however tentative our prayer is, it is always taken
up into Christ's prayer, and he fills it with his own presence.
So we must not gauge the quality of our prayer by our feelings but rather
learn to trust that Christ is holding our prayer in his own life.
But what about praying for others? Do we change things by praying about
them? I believe that through prayer we share in the creativity of God
who is trying to transform every tragedy into a life giving triumph.
By prayer we align our concern with God`s concerns and perhaps loosen
the fabric of things, allowing more of his life in. We share in opening
up the possibility of change. But more to the point we will be changed
through our prayer. Whenever we pray for a particular need, we may become
aware of how we could creatively respond.
Prayer is simply making ourselves available for God and that can happen
anywhere we choose and in every daily activity.But sometimes we may
need help for the spirit of prayer to take flight in us. I have a collection
of prayers I take away on holiday with me and by simply opening the
book and selecting a prayer and slowly praying it over and over again
I am drawn into the spirit of prayer. Prayer is never our work but God's
work in us, all we have to do is make ourselves available.
The Wetlands –
a place to meditate
Like (I suspect) many other visitors, the great attraction for me of
the Barnes Wetlands Centre comes from a love of the countryside, an
interest and interactive appreciation of the natural world. Here in
this part of London we are truly blessed with many green, open spaces.
But the design of and dedicated conservation work carried out by the
Wetlands Centre has greatly added to the already rich bio-diversity
of South West London. It a great place to escape for an hour or two
to contemplate and reflect, but it's also an inspiration, a place of
hope, evidence of just what is possible when God's call to stewardship
is taken to heart.
Graham Pulham |
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