#pray

Practicing the Presence of God is bringing our “heart” – body, soul, and mind – to God, to be in His Presence – to love Him, to worship Him, to lay our troubles and triumphs with Him, to rest in Him. What a glorious idea….but few of us ever find that rest! ↗

— David Paul Kikrpatrick

#prayer #presence #love

Joni discovered the best way to put the halter on her horse without being animal resisting and fleeing was to turn her back until he nuzzled up to her. At that point, she could slip the halter on. Just so, she surmises, sometimes God waits for us to turn our backs on what we desire most and to trust Him. ↗

— Joni Eareckson Tada

#prayer #love

Since both the departed saints and we ourselves are in Christ, we share with them in the 'communion of saints.' They are still our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we celebrate the Eucharist they are there with us, along with the angels and archangels. Why then should we not pray for and with them? The reason the Reformers and their successors did their best to outlaw praying for the dead was because that had been so bound up with the notion of purgatory and the need to get people out of it as soon as possible. Once we rule out purgatory, I see no reason why we should not pray for and with the dead and every reason why we should - not that they will get out of purgatory but that they will be refreshed and filled with God's joy and peace. Love passes into prayer; we still love them; why not hold them, in that love, before God? ↗

— N.T. Wright

#communion-of-saints #paradise #prayer #praying-for-the-dead #purgatory

That wish - that prayer - both men and women would have scorned me for - "But, Father, Thou wilt not despise!" I said, and felt that it was true. ↗

— Anne Brontë

#love #prayer #wish #love

My love for you is a prayer, she thought. Love is the only prayer I know. ↗

— Marion Zimmer Bradley

#love #prayer #love