DEACON 11: «Prayer»

DEACON 11

“Prayer”

Is prayer important for one’s life, for one’s spirit, or is it a waste of mental energy? I truly looked forward to what he was about to say…

And he spoke:

Prayer is communication with God. Or is it? What is a prayer? This must be something unique to humans for I do not believe other sentient beings on Earth pray. Or do they? Perhaps prayer, as part of our religious practices is our connection between the profane and the divine. If that is so then we are accomplishing much with our life of prayer. If it is not, then we are gaining nothing.

Personally, I have learned that there are great benefits to prayer. Psychologically, it grounds us in the knowledge that, although we might think ourselves alone, we are not truly left cold and forgotten on this Earth. Conversation, through prayer, with a higher power, can sooth anxiety and can produce a sense of euphoria that can lead us away from the dangerous path of despair to instead allows us to recognise that we are children of a mighty God that will render aid because He loves us.

And how does one pray? What is the method? What words should one either memorise or read? Which prayers suit which situation or request? Christians have prayer books replete with prayers for all occasions. That might be a good start. But I do believe that the best prayer is the one you create yourself in your private conversation with the Divine.

The Sioux nation has a most beautiful prayer which I would like to share with you:

Oh Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds, and whose breath gives life to all the world – hear me – I come before you, one of your children. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made, my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise, so that I may know the things you have taught my People, the lesson you have hidden in every leaf and rock. I seek strength not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy, myself. Make me ever ready to come to you, with clean hands and straight eyes, so when life fades as a fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.

These are words that can enrich one’s life and satisfy most of one’s yearnings. Analysing this phenomenal prayer I would say that it resembles, in many ways, the “Our Father” that we were taught as children in Catechism.

Our Father who art in Heaven hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. (And in your mercy grant us peace in our day, for yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever. Amen.

If one is humble, one prays for forgiveness and guidance, like the Lakota-Sioux prayer which states that one should seek strength not to be better than one’s brothers but to fight one’s greatest enemy, one’s self. That is the guidance that is sought by humble men and women. One seeks to better one’s self who is vain and narcissistic; that seeks power over others and that thinks the world revolves around him or her. In humility one knows to seek forgiveness and one realises that one is a child of a greater being from which one needs constant assistance, guidance and knowledge. God has scattered his wisdom all over the Earth we inhabit. It is wise to pray that we might find it.

Jesus said we should pray in private, conversing with our Heavenly Father. He said not to be ostentatious, like the hypocrites that pray in the public squares making a spectacle before others so that they can be thought of as pious men or women. Jesus taught compassion, and forgiveness. He taught us to be strong in our faith and faithful in our prayers but not in an arrogant manner. He taught us to ask God, our Father, to teach us to forgive and to lead us not into temptation but into the Kingdom. But what is the Kingdom?

The Kingdom, which Jesus said was amongst us, is a topic we shall soon discuss.

C.2025, Francisco Bravo Cabrera – 21 MAR 2025 – Valencia, España