Essence of Prayer (Hiddenspring)

When Jesus tells us that we must call God Abba, and live as his children, he is demanding of us this decentralization and `ek-stasy', this standing-out-of-self, in order to transfer our existence, our meaning, our importance, our weight, to the Father. It is a summons to the most radical self-denial.

By staking everything on Jesus' guarantee and trying to live always in the faith that God is Father, we come to know what he is: that he is our ground and air, that he is our encompassing and the source of what we are and do.

for God to `touch' me, however lightly, means I suffer. I begin to shrivel up, to experience something of my sinfulness and total helplessness. I will come to realise with poignant intensity that I know nothing about God, that to me he has not yet revealed hisname. I had thought I was spiritual, contemplative even; and now I see that I am an empty

Prayer is not just one function in life, not even the most important function; it is life itself. We are truly alive, truly human, only when our whole life is prayer.

If we are convinced that this is the heart of prayer, this basic decision to remain open to the inflowingof divine love, then we shall understand that we can choose any method we like to help us maintain this basic desire and intention.

Nowhere, except when he is quoting the Shema, does Jesus speak of our loving the Father. He tells us we must believe in the Father, trust him, obey him, and love our neighbour. It can seem presumptuous to speak of loving God - as though we could! We

It is the Father's excess of love for us that, in filling the heart of Jesus, drives Jesus to his self-emptying.

On our side prayer is simply being there: open, exposed, inviting God to do all God wants. Prayer is not our activity, our getting in touch with God, our coming to grips with or making ourselves desirable to God. We can do none of these things, nor do we need to, for God is there ready to do everything for us, loving us unconditionally.

Christian prayer is nothing other than being present to God so that God can give to us. The only thing that matters is that we believe this and stay there with Him, regardless of how we feel or don't feel.