Dear Friends,
We hope that you are safe and well.
Today's Meditation presents Henri Nouwen reflecting on "Together we pray to God." Even though we are separated by miles, our hearts resonating together in prayer to God is life-giving for us and for the world. Prayer-love is a spiritual energy and I believe that the law of conservation energy in which no energy is lost applies to the spiritual realm as well as to the physical world. In joyful, humble gratitude we are united and we beam out caring energy to each other, to Ukraine and Russia, to mothers struggling to find formula for their babies, to all who feel lost, to...
We invite you to join us as we commit ourselves to working tirelessly to end systemic and structural racism in our society, in the church, in healthcare, in the workplace--wherever it shows up so that everyone may come to have more abundant life. May this meditation nourish our contemplative-active hearts and sustain all of us in action.
In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that it is God's economy of abundance: when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer.
We hope and pray that you find peace, healing, hope and the infusion of joy in your life!
With our love and care,
Ron and Jean
MEDITATION 679: Henri Nouwen: Together We Pray to God
DAILY MEDITATION | MAY 24, 2022
Together we Pray to God
Prayer is the language of the Christian community. In prayer the nature of the community becomes visible because in prayer we direct ourselves to the One who forms the community. We do not pray to each other, but together we pray to God, who calls us and makes us into a new people. Praying is not one of the many things the community does. Rather, it is its very being. Many discussions about prayer do not take this very seriously. Sometimes it seems as if the Christian community is “so busy” with its projects and plans that there is neither the time nor the mood to pray. But when prayer is no longer its primary concern, and when its many activities are no longer seen and experienced as part of prayer itself, the community quickly degenerates into a club with a common cause but no common vocation.
By prayer, community is created as well as expressed. Prayer is first of all the realization of the community itself. Most clear and most noticeable are the words, the gestures, and the silence through which the community is formed. When we listen to the word, we not only receive insight into God’s saving work, but we also experience a new mutual bond. When we stand around the altar, eat bread and drink wine, kneel in meditation, or walk in procession, we not only remember God’s work in human history, but we also become aware of God’s creative presence here and now. When we sit together in silent prayer, we create a space where we sense that the One we are waiting for is already touching us, as he touched Elijah in front of the cave (1 Kings 19:13).
"When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."
ACTS 1:13,14 (NIV)