Prayer is not a request for God's favors. True, it has been used to obtain the satisfaction of personal desires. It has even been adopted to reinforce prejudices, justify violence, and create barriers between people and between countries. But genuine prayer is based on recognizing the Origin of all that exists, and opening ourselves to it…. In prayer we acknowledge God as the supreme source from which flows all strength, all goodness, all existence, acknowledging that we have our being, life itself from this supreme Power. One can then communicate with this Source, worship it, and ultimately place one's very center in it.
Piero Ferrucci, Ineffable Grace (p.254) quoted in Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, by Cynthia Bourgeault,
I've returned to 'practicing' meditation. I'd like to say 'trying,' not 'practicing,' but I know how that word can imply failure. When we try, we hope for success but know that failure is always a possibility. When we try, our endeavor ends and we go on to something else.
When we practice, however, failure or success isn't a part of it. We keep going, sometimes being in the moment, sometimes being some place else, sometimes being with God, sometimes with some else.
The goal in practicing centering prayer is to be totally open to God, which has not no end. That's what I'm practicing.
Piero Ferrucci, Ineffable Grace (p.254) quoted in Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, by Cynthia Bourgeault,
I've returned to 'practicing' meditation. I'd like to say 'trying,' not 'practicing,' but I know how that word can imply failure. When we try, we hope for success but know that failure is always a possibility. When we try, our endeavor ends and we go on to something else.
When we practice, however, failure or success isn't a part of it. We keep going, sometimes being in the moment, sometimes being some place else, sometimes being with God, sometimes with some else.
The goal in practicing centering prayer is to be totally open to God, which has not no end. That's what I'm practicing.
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