Prayer

Before becoming a convinced Quaker, I was brought up in a traditional Catholic faith. For the most part, prayer was petitionary. Whether it was for forgiveness, direction, help for yourself or someone else, we were asking for something from a God who was separate and apart from us. As I became aware of the contemplative spirituality that existed within certain monastic communities, my whole notion of prayer changed.

My approach to prayer is best summarized by the Franciscan priest Richard Rohr.

Prayer is indeed the way to make contact with God/Ultimate Reality, but it is not an attempt to change God’s mind about us or about events. It’s primarily about changing our mind so that things like infinity, mystery, and forgiveness can resound within us. A small mind cannot see great things because the two are on two different frequencies or channels, as it were. The Big Mind can know big things, but we must change channels. Like will know like. [1]

The divine presence within us is always there and resting with it can help us navigate our life’s circumstances. This notion seems core to Quaker spirituality. The meetings I am familiar with do not lead communal prayers or hymns. They just provide a communal space for us to change our “frequencies” and share if and when the desire arises. It is prayer in it’s simplest form.

[1] Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (Crossroad Publishing, 2009), 105, 113, 102.