{"id":20641,"date":"2021-10-14T09:53:03","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T13:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20641"},"modified":"2021-10-14T10:29:58","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T14:29:58","slug":"creation-centered-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20641","title":{"rendered":"Creation-Centered Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6B_iXPaoTD4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>In a conference on Franciscan mysticism, Fr. Richard talked about the \u201cFour Splits\u201d that keep us from recognizing and accessing the presence of God at all times and in all things. As he reminded the audience:\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n<p>The spiritual nature of reality, and the material, the physical, have been one ever since the Big Bang.\u00a0The incarnation did not just happen 2,000 years ago; rather, matter and spirit have been one since God decided to manifest himself\/herself.\u00a0. . .<\/p>\n<p><strong>Christ is everywhere. The entire planet is anointed and messianic, if you will.\u00a0All bears the Christ mystery.<\/strong>\u00a0The whole point of going to communion in church is to\u00a0sacramentalize\u00a0the universe.\u00a0We\u2019re not only in communion when we go to communion. We\u2019re always in communion when we learn this. We\u2019re in communion driving to church.\u00a0We\u2019re in\u00a0communion walking up the steps of the church.\u00a0We\u2019re in communion at\u00a0the bathroom break.\u00a0We\u2019re in communion when we\u2019re in nature.<\/p>\n<p><em>Franciscan sister Jos\u00e9 Hobday (1929\u20132009), a personal friend of Richard\u2019s and a beloved presence in the early years of the CAC, was a Seneca elder, an author, and a storyteller. She writes of how she learned to \u201cpray always\u201d from the Native American spirituality of her mother, which honored this sense of being in constant communion and harmony with God in all things. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>My mother prayed as a Native American. <strong>That meant she saw living as praying and praying as living. She tried to pray her life.<\/strong> She expressed her prayer of gratitude, for example, in the way she did things. She told me many times, \u201cWhen you stir oatmeal, stir it slowly so you don\u2019t forget that oatmeal is a gift and that you don\u2019t take it for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>She made a prayer out of the way she stirred oatmeal. Doing things prayerfully. That reflected her approach to prayer.<\/strong>\u00a0She always did that. She even did it in the way she walked. She taught me and my brothers to walk with our hearts high and to walk softly on the earth because the earth is our mother. . . . As we walked, she said, we should be ready to enter into every movement of beauty we encountered. . . .<\/p>\n<p>So, what things have I learned from Native American spirituality? First, to make my prayer creation-centered. Indians pray as relatives of the earth. They consider the sky their father, the earth their mother. The sun can be a brother or a sister. This makes you a creature with a relationship to creation, not someone above it or better than it. . . .<\/p>\n<p><strong>In our prayer, we might very well reflect on . . . creatures, and their relationship with creation. That is what Native Americans have done. It has not only kept them in touch with creation, but with the Creator as well.<\/strong>\u00a0[1]<\/p>\n<p>Sarah Young<\/p>\n<p>BE PREPARED TO SUFFER FOR ME, in My Name. All suffering has meaning in My kingdom. <strong>Pain and problems are opportunities to demonstrate your trust in Me.<\/strong> Bearing your circumstances bravely\u2014even thanking Me for them\u2014is one of the highest forms of praise. This sacrifice of thanksgiving rings golden-toned bells of Joy throughout heavenly realms. On earth also, your patient suffering sends out ripples of good tidings in ever-widening circles. <strong>When suffering strikes, remember that I am sovereign and that I can bring good out of everything.<\/strong> Do not try to run from pain or hide from problems. Instead, accept adversity in My Name, offering it up to Me for My purposes. Thus your suffering gains meaning and draws you closer to Me. <strong>Joy emerges from the ashes of adversity through your trust and thankfulness. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>JAMES 1:2\u20134; My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.<\/p>\n<p>PSALM 107:21\u201322; 21; Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind. \u00b2\u00b2Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.<\/p>\n<p>PSALM 33:21; For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy Name.<\/p>\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling Morning and Evening Devotional (Jesus Calling\u00ae) (p. 594). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a conference on Franciscan mysticism, Fr. Richard talked about the \u201cFour Splits\u201d that keep us from recognizing and accessing the presence of God at all times and in all things. As he reminded the audience:\u00a0 The spiritual nature of reality, and the material, the physical, have been one ever since the Big Bang.\u00a0The incarnation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20641"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20641"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20645,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20641\/revisions\/20645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}