Prayer of Asking and Thanksgiving

In the New Testament, Jesus teaches people to pray by asking God what they need. Writers of the epistles, such as Paul, encourage the people to pray to God for one another and the community's needs.

To ask for what we need is to recognize our dependence upon God for everything. To pray for what we need is to deepen our relationship with God. Ceasing to pray for what we need is to allow the breakdown of our relationship with God and replace that relationship with a dependency upon ourselves or the things of the world.

We do not pray to convince God to do our will, but we pray so that our will becomes one with God's will. We do not control God. Instead, we accept that God loves us. We trust that God will accomplish what is necessary for our good and the good of others.

God desires to give us good things. We must, therefore, desire and hunger to receive what God desires to give. God can only give us what is good; thus, God cannot give us what is harmful. Gradually, the Holy Spirit transforms our desires into what God desires. We let go of our desires and seek only God’s desires. “Be it done to me according to your will.” We pray, “Create a clean heart in me, and put in me a steadfast spirit.”

The spiritual life can be seen as asking God for what we need and thanking God for what we have received. In this way, we realize that we are in a relationship with God who creates us and sustains us. Asking and thanking helps our relationship with God to be conscious and active. The more we become aware of how God lovingly responds to our needs, the more grateful we become, and our relationship with God deepens.

When we have received from God, an appropriate response is thanksgiving or gratitude. We express gratitude to God for what we have received. Thanksgiving acknowledges that our prayer has been heard. The way we show concern for the needs of others may be, for us, an act of thanksgiving to God.

We are not afraid to approach the All-Holy One with our needs because we know God loves us and we are important to God. We realize that everything we have and are is God’s gift. Without God, we are nothing. We realize we need and trust God's strength and love.

We don’t want to forget what we have asked from God. When our prayers are answered, we want to express our gratitude or thanksgiving to God. A prayer journal may help record our prayers of asking and how God has responded to our prayers.

The Eucharist is a marvelous prayer of asking and thanksgiving God. The word Eucharist means thanksgiving. We often cannot show our gratitude to God by simply saying "thank you." Instead, we gather with others to express our gratitude and commitment to give ourselves to others generously.

What do we ask for? The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) teaches us this. We ask that God be recognized as holy, that God's plan for the world and humanity be realized, and that God's will be done on this earth as it is in heaven. We ask for the necessities of life, our daily bread. We ask for forgiveness for the wrong we have done and the hurt we have caused. We ask to be able to forgive others and be reconciled with them. We ask that we be delivered from sin and temptations too strong for us. We ask to be delivered from what is evil in our lives.

There is much more we can ask for. We ask to be able to pray, taste and feel God's presence, and experience God's love. Still, we are not trying to change God or make God do our will. We ask that our desires, hungers, and needs, and those of others, be transformed into what God desires. God’s desire may also be that we engage in providing for the hungers and needs of others.

And what if we pray for what is not God's will for us? What if our prayers seem to go unanswered? Perhaps God waits, gradually transforming our desires into what God desires. God can only give us what is good.

Since we depend upon God for everything, we pray for what God desires for us, others, and our world. God gradually shapes our desires to his desires for us. When we receive this gift, we are grateful.

The word contemplation

In the fourth century when many Christians left ordinary society in the Roman Empire for a life of solitude in the desert, they were seeking deeper meaning in their relationship with the Holy.

Around this time the word contemplation becomes more commonly used to express a deeper longing for intimacy with God. It seems to represent a deeper level of prayer than typical praying.

Often, when we think of praying, we think of asking God for some favors or to respond to some need of ours. Our prayers may occasionally praise and thank God. However, more often they are prayers seeking favors from the unseen Holy One.

When the desert fathers and mothers went into the wilderness and abandoned society they were not so much seeking favors from God, but desiring to grow into a deeper awareness of the Sacred Mystery.

The etymology of “contemplation” has its root word as “templum.” The meaning of templum had the connotation of measuring, being attentive to, or watchful of object. Early astronomers focused their attention on a certain measure of the sky at night. They watched carefully for the movement or pattern of any stars in their section which became their templum. The heavens were seen as the dwelling place of the gods. Astrologers looked for movement in the stars as signs from the gods of what might happen.

We find the root “templum” in many of our words. We speak of a template, a form to make an exact copy. We speak of contempt – being against the measure; contemporary, being with the measure of the times. We speak of temporary, observable for only a short period.

In time the physical Jewish Temple becomes the dwelling place of God. It was within the confines of the Temple for the Jewish people that God dwelt. Priests were attentive to the sacrifices and the upkeep of the Temple. After the destruction of Jerusalem around the year 68 CE, the Jewish Temple no longer existed. God’s presence was sought elsewhere.

Christian scriptures speak of Jesus, the Risen Lord, as the new Temple, the new dwelling place of God. In our prayer we enter into the temple that is the risen Jesus. We speak of all creation as the temple of God, God’s dwelling place. We live in God’s temple of the Earth. Our own bodies are temples of God’s Spirit.

The ancient desert fathers and mothers were seeking deeper intimacy with God. If we can recognize God’s presence in the temple of the human person, and all God’s creation, then we may not find it necessary to abandon society but rather find the Sacred hidden in ordinary humanity, in the abandoned and forgotten, and in all creatures living upon the Earth.

Nature of prayer

This is the nature of prayer, that it raises one from earth to heaven, higher than every heavenly name and dignity, and brings one before the very God of all.

Gregory of Palamas

We are how we pray

As we are, so we pray. We make ourselves what we are by the way we address God.

Thomas Merton

Rabbi Abraham Heschel - On Prayer

Rabbi Abraham Heschel (1907 – 1972), was born in Poland and moved to the United States in 1940. He was a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He was active and a well-known participant in the Civil Rights movement and in protests against the Vietnam War. He was highly respected within Christian circles and a man of prayer.

In 1969 he delivered a talk on prayer at an inter-religious convocation held under the auspices of the U.S. Liturgical Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 28, 1969. His words are relevant and still a challenge to us today. 

Below are some of the thoughts he shared.

It is a grave self-deception to assume that our destiny is just to be human. In order to be human, one must be more than human. A person must never stand still. He must always rise; he must always climb. Be stronger than you are.

The tragedy of our time is that we have moved out of the dimension of the holy, that we have abandoned the intimacy in which relationship to God can be patiently, honestly, persistently nourished. Intimate inner life is forsaken. Yet the soul can never remain a vacuum. It is either a vessel for grace or it is occupied by demons.

Prayer is either exceedingly urgent, exceedingly relevant, or inane and useless. Our first task is to learn to comprehend why prayer is an ontological necessity. God is hiding, and man is defying. Every moment God is creating and self-concealing. Prayer is disclosing or at least preventing an irreversible concealing. God is ensconced in mystery, hidden in the depths. Prayer is pleading with God to come out of the depths. “Out of the depths I have called Thee, O Lord.” (Psalm 130:1).

Prayer is not a stratagem for occasional use, a refuge to resort to now and then. It is rather like an established residence for the innermost self. All things have a home, the bird has a nest, the fox has a hole, the bee has a hive. The soul without prayer is a soul without a home. Weary, sobbing, the soul, after roaming through a world festered with aimlessness, falsehoods and absurdities, seeks a moment in which to gather up its scattered life, in which to divest itself of enforced pretensions and, flies, in which to simplify complexities, in order to call for help without being a coward. Such a home is prayer. Continuity, permanence, intimacy, authenticity, earnestness, are its attributes. For the soul, home is where prayer is.

Everybody must build his own home; everybody must guard the independence and the privacy of his prayers. It is the source of security for the integrity of conscience, for whatever inkling we attain of eternity. At home I have a Father who judges, cares, who has regard for me, and when I feel and go astray, misses me. I will never give up my home.

Prayer serves many names. It serves to save the inward life from oblivion. It serves to alleviate anguish. It serves to partake of God’s mysterious grace and guidance. Yet, ultimately, prayer must not be experienced as an act for the sake of something else. We pray in order to pray.

Man in prayer does not seek to impose his will upon God; he seeks to impose God’s will and mercy upon himself.

Prayer is more than paying attention to the holy. Prayer comes about as an event. It consists of two inner acts: an active turning and an act of direction. I leave the world behind as well as all interests of the self. Divested of all concerns, I am overwhelmed by only one desire: to place my heart upon the altar of God.

I pray because of God, the Shekhinah, is an outcast. I pray because God is in exile, because we all conspire to blur all signs of His presence in the present or in the past. I pray because I refuse to despair, because extreme denials and defiance are refuted in the confrontation of my own presumption and the mystery all around me. I pray because I am unable to pray.

Prayer is a confrontation with Him who demands justice and compassion, with Him who despises flattery and abhors iniquity. Prayer calls for self-reflection, for contrition and repentance, examining and readjusting deeds and motivations, for recanting the ugly compulsions we follow, the tyranny of acquisitiveness, hatred, envy, resentment. We face not only things – continents, oceans, planets. We also face a claim and expectation.

Prayer should be an act of catharsis, of purgation of emotions, as well as a process of self-clarification, of examining priorities, of elucidating responsibility. Prayer that is not verified by conduct is an act of desecration and blasphemy. Do not take a word of prayer in vain. Our deeds must not be the reputation of our prayers.

Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow into ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods.

Prayer will not come about by default. It requires education, training, reflection, contemplation. It is not enough to join others; it is necessary to build a sanctuary within, brick by brick, instants of meditation, moments of devotion. This is particularly true in an age when overwhelming forces seem to conspire and destroy our ability to pray.

The beginning of prayer is praise. The power of worship is song. First we sing, then we understand. First, we praise, then we believe. Praise and song open our eyes to the grandeur of reality that transcends the self. Song restores the soul; praise repairs spiritual deficiency. To praise is to make Him present to our minds, to our hearts, to verify the understanding that beyond all questions, protests, and pain at God’s dreadful silence, is His mercy, and humility. We are stunned when we try to think of his essence. We are exalted when intuiting His presence. While it is true that being human is verified in relationships between one another, depth and authenticity of existence are disclosed in moments of worship.

Worship is more than paying homage. To worship is to join the cosmos in praising God. The whole cosmos, every living being sings, the Psalmist insist. Neither joy nor sorrow, but song is the ground plan of being. It is the quintessence of life. To praises is to call forth the promise and presence of the divine. We live for the sake of a song. We praise for the privilege of being. Worship is the climax of living. There is no knowledge without love, no truth without praise. At the beginning was the song, and praise is man's response to the never-ending beginning.

Prayer - You Were Present

You humbly entered the spilling forth of the universe.

You divested yourself of divinity and slept quietly in the smallest particles of matter.

You moved creation to form each galaxy, each star, and each planet.

With infinite patience, you raised up life in its simplest form.

In time you drew together the life of each living thing.

You experienced delight in each plant, each animal, each fish, and each bird.

You were present as life spread around the earth.

You were present when the first humans, made in your image, became conscious of the vastness of creation, and began to sense your presence beyond and within all that exists.

You were present when humans first stood upon their feet and walked.

You took delight at how unique and beautiful was each person. 

You were there when they first learned to speak to each other.

You were present when they first touched and kissed and made love.

You were present when they first danced and sang together.

You were present when they brought sorrow into other’s lives.

You were present when they sat quietly in contemplative awe at the wonders of life and creation around them.

You were present at death as you tenderly broke apart their fibers of life, so they could move more deeply into your eternal heart.

You were present when people first began to live in tribes and communities.

You were present when the first great empires of the past came and went.

You were present when the first great religions formed expressing how to live rightly in the world.

You were present when people first learned wisdom and shared it with others.

You were present in sorrow when people first began to use and abuse one another – and continued to do so.

You were saddened by their selfishness and concern only for themselves.

You were present in sorrow when you experienced people at war destroying one another and your beautiful creation.

You were present when people first forgot that you were with them in love.

You were present in the people of Israel who saw themselves as your Chosen People.

You were present as you showed them your compassionate care.

You were present in the ancient prophets who warned them to return to the way of compassionate love lest harm enfold them.

You were present when they did not respond to your call, and when the harm you warned fell upon them.

You were present as you began to draw new life from their destruction.

You were present in Jesus of Nazareth who completely revealed your compassionate love, and once again called people to follow the way that led to life.

You were present when, after his death on a cross, you drew him into complete unity with you whom we call Father, Word, and Spirit.

You were present with the Christ in the community of his followers throughout the centuries.

You were present in the Church made a sign of humanity living justly and compassionatley for each other.

You were present when you inspired people to a contemplative life, especially in those early years of Christianity.

You were present when you inspired in people a greater desire for knowledge and enabled them to form schools and universities.

You were present when from those education centers emerged our scientific and rational age inspiring creativity in abundance.

You are with us today as you inspire us to harmonize our knowledge,  our creativity, our contemplation, and our compassionate love for all people, however diverse.

You are with us today as you inspire us to end all division and grow toward solidarity with all people,

You are present with us urging us to care for the earth from which we came. 

You are with us now, leading us into a distant future of greater unity, complexity, and creativity with all people and all creation.

Humble and Compassionate Love among us, when our moment upon earth is complete, we are confident we, in whom your Spirit now dwells, will be caught up with all creation into your eternal presence of humble and compassionate and creative love.