A cry of recognition and of love…
For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.
« πλ | 11 Jul 2005 »
Quotes — Prayer (70 entries)
A heart without words…
In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
« πλ | 5 Dec 2004 »
A lifting of the heart and will to…
Prayer is fundamentally a transformation of will, a lifting of the heart and will to God.
« πλ | 29 Mar 2006 »
Ascend to the dwelling places we desire…
In order to profit from this path [of prayer] and ascend to the dwelling places we desire, the important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so, do that which best stirs you to love.
« πλ | 22 Jul 2005 »
Be constantly committed…
Be constantly committed to prayer or to reading [Scripture]; by praying, you speak to God, in reading, God speaks to you.
« πλ | 21 Jul 2005 »
Expect to have hope…
Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wonderous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again.
« πλ | 12 Sep 2005 »
Four ways God answers prayer…
There are four ways God answers prayer:
No, not yet;
No, I love you too much;
Yes, I thought you’d never ask;
Yes, and here’s more.
« πλ | 9 Dec 2004 »
God has editing rights…
God has editing rights over our prayers. He will…edit them, correct them, bring them in line with His will and then hand them back to us to be resubmitted.
« πλ | 19 Sep 2005 »
He who does not advance…
Ahead! Courage! In the spiritual life he who does not advance goes backward. It happens as with a boat which always must go ahead. If it stands still the wind will blow it back.
« πλ | 11 Aug 2005 »
He who fails to pray…
He who fails to pray does not cheat God. He cheats himself.
« πλ | 13 Nov 2004 »
If God seems slow in responding…
If God seems slow in responding, it is because He is preparing a better gift. He will not deny us. God withholds what you are not yet ready for. He wants you to have a lively desire for His greatest gifts. All of which is to say, pray always and do not lose heart.
« πλ | 23 Mar 2005 »
Impossible for the man of…
It is impossible for the man of prayer not to radiate hope.
« πλ | 15 Aug 2004 »
It is our part to seek…
It is our part to seek,
His to grant what we ask;
ours to make a beginning,
His to bring it to completion;
ours to offer what we can,
His to finish what we cannot.
« πλ | 20 Mar 2005 »
Life!
I shall pass through this world but once.
Any good therefore, that I can do,
or any kindness that I can show
to any human being,
let me do it now.
Let me not defer or neglect it,
for I shall not pass this way again.
« πλ | 1 Feb 2005 »
Mental prayer is…
Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.
« πλ | 31 Jul 2005 »
More tears shed over…
There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.
« πλ | 25 Apr 2006 »
More things are wrought by…
More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.
« πλ | 3 Sep 2006 »
No longer fighting God…
You’re no longer fighting God, trying to make Him do what you want. You’re accepting what happens, and your main prayer transforms into one that asks God for nothing more than understanding and perhaps strength to endure.
« πλ | 20 Jul 2005 »
One prayer of thanksgiving…
One prayer of thanksgiving when things go badly is worth a thousand when things go well.
« πλ | 1 May 2005 »
Our Father is to prayer…
The Our Father is to prayer what Christ is to humanity.
« πλ | 6 Sep 2006 »
Out of your comfort zone…
If your prayer is not leading you out of your comfort zone, then maybe… The Voice of Truth always says, “Be not afraid.” What is stopping you?
« πλ | 6 Aug 2005 »
Prayer always works to…
Prayer always works to transform us into what God wants us to be. Not what we want to be.
« πλ | 11 Jan 2005 »
Prayer and love are learned…
Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and your heart has turned to stone.
« πλ | 2 Dec 2004 »
Prayer begins by talking to God…
Prayer begins by talking to God, but it ends by listening to Him. In the face of Absolute Truth, silence is the soul’s language.
« πλ | 22 Nov 2006 »
Prayer enlarges the heart…
Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of Himself.
« πλ | 11 Dec 2004 »
Prayer is a surge of the heart…
For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.
« πλ | 30 Oct 2003 »
Prayer is an act of love…
Prayer is an act of love, to God, from God, through God. Prayer is an act of love with those for whom we pray.
« πλ | 24 Feb 2005 »
Prayer is not idle amusement…
Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.
« πλ | 6 Feb 2004 »
Prayer is not…
Prayer is not so much a way to find God as a way of resting in him…who loves us, who is near to us…
« πλ | 28 Feb 2005 »
Prayer is the breath of the soul…
One of the chief duties which [the Christian] will punctually and carefully fulfill is the duty of prayer. You will remember in the Book of Acts, when Saul the persecutor was converted by a special miracle, the sign given of his conversion was this: “Behold he prayeth.” (Acts 9:11). Prayer is the breath of the soul. Just as breathing is the sign of life, prayer is the sign of the life of the soul.
« πλ | 24 May 2006 »
Prayer need not be…
Prayer need not be a burdensome duty. It is meant to be a joyful and creative privilege.
« πλ | 25 May 2005 »
Souls who do not practice prayer…
Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed.
« πλ | 31 Jul 2004 »
That your enemies…
That your enemies have been created is God’s doing; that they hate you and wish to ruin you is their own doing. What should you say about them in your mind? “Lord be merciful to them, forgive them their sins, put the fear of God in them, change them!” You are loving in them not what they are, but what you would have them to become.
« πλ | 8 Nov 2006 »
The Spirit helps us in our weakness…
The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
« πλ | 14 Dec 2004 »
The Teacher would not have prayer…
Before all things, the Teacher of Peace and the Master of Unity would not have prayer made singly and individually, as for one who prays only for himself. For we do not say, “My Father, who art in heaven”… Our prayer is public and common; and when we pray, we pray not for one, but for the whole people, because we the whole people are one.
After all, we are all members of the Vine…
« πλ | 17 Jul 2004 »
The desire is your prayers…
The desire is your prayers; and if your desire is without ceasing, your prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.
« πλ | 20 Sep 2005 »
The inner bath of love…
Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.
« πλ | 7 Aug 2004 »
The mark of a good prayer life…
The mark of a good prayer life is not abundant consolation, but growth in the virtues.
« πλ | 7 Jun 2005 »
The prayer of listening makes…
The prayer of listening makes things simple but it also makes us vulnerable, and that is frightening. Listening makes us open to Christ, the Word of God, spoken in all things: in the material world, the Scriptures, the Church, and sacraments and, sometimes most threateningly, in our fellow human beings. To listen at prayer is to take the chance of hearing the voice of Christ in the poor, the weak, those whom we love and those whom we do not love.
« πλ | 25 Nov 2006 »
The soul which has come into…
The soul which has come into intimate contact with God in the silence of the prayer chamber is never out of conscious touch with the Father; the heart is always going out to Him in loving communion, and the moment the mind is released from the task upon which it is engaged, it returns as naturally to God as the bird does to its nest. What a beautiful conception of prayer we get if we regard it in this light.
« πλ | 3 Feb 2005 »
The whole purpose of prayer is to…
The whole purpose of prayer is to know, to possess and be possessed by God.
« πλ | 10 Jun 2005 »
Those who pray…
We are always in the presence of God, yet it seems to me that those who pray are in His presence in a very different sense.
« πλ | 8 Jul 2005 »
Three Words
People ask me what advice I have for a married couple struggling in their relationship. I always answer: pray and forgive. And to young people from violent homes, I say: pray and forgive. And again, even to the single mother with no family support: pray and forgive.
« πλ | 20 Aug 2004 »
Until we actually choose…
We can read all the books that have ever been written about prayer, but until we actually choose…to pray, we will never learn.
« πλ | 2 Mar 2005 »
Virtues are formed by prayer…
Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven.
« πλ | 17 Nov 2003 »
We are a living incompleteness…
Prayer is an expression of who we are…. We are a living incompleteness. We are a gap, an emptiness that calls for fullfillment.
« πλ | 2 May 2005 »
We will be tempted to abandon prayer…
The time will surely come when the well of our imagination runs dry and we must either be convinced that God is not the image we have of him or else we will take the loss of the image for the loss of God himself—and we will be tempted to abandon prayer as a hopeless endeavor.
« πλ | 8 Jun 2005 »
What seem our worst prayers…
What seem our worst prayers may really be, in God’s eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off our guard.
« πλ | 18 Sep 2005 »
When at night you cannot sleep…
When at night you cannot sleep, talk to the Shepherd and stop counting sheep.
« πλ | 12 Dec 2004 »
When prayer is a struggle…
When prayer is a struggle, do not worry about the prayers that you cannot pray. You yourself are a prayer to God at that moment. All that is within you cries out to Him, and He hears all the pleas that your suffering soul and body are making to Him with groanings which cannot be uttered.
« πλ | 7 Dec 2004 »
When you are making so much noise…
How can you expect God to speak in that gentle and inward voice which melts the soul, when you are making so much noise with your rapid reflections? Be silent and God will speak again.
« πλ | 25 Aug 2006 »
Why pray…
Why pray if we cannot change God? …is that why we pray? To change omniscient Love? Isn’t it rather to learn what it is and to fulfill it? Not to change it by our acts, but to change our acts by it.
« πλ | 18 Mar 2006 »
Words stand between…
Words stand between silence and silence: between the silence of things and the silence of our own being, between the silence of the world and the silence of God. When we have really met and known the world in silence, words do not separate us from the world nor from other men, nor from God, nor from ourselves because we no longer trust entirely in language to contain reality.
« πλ | 25 Aug 2005 »
You’re here on your knees praying…
You’re here, on your knees, praying as the seconds on your Mickey Mouse clock tick by, but in God’s time, you’re working with Him at the moment of creation, when there is no time.
« πλ | 19 Jul 2005 »
Your hearts are small…
My little children, your hearts are small, but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God. Through prayer we receive a foretaste of Heaven and something of paradise comes down upon us. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the souls and makes all things sweet. When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun.
« πλ | 23 Jul 2005 »
![[Jerusalem Cross with Heart]](http://cowpi.com/journal/grafiks/jerusalem-cross-heart.gif "Jerusalem Cross with Heart")