{"id":17319,"date":"2018-10-05T10:28:37","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T14:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=17319"},"modified":"2018-10-05T10:45:07","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T14:45:07","slug":"unknowing-prayer-beyond-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=17319","title":{"rendered":"Unknowing; Prayer Beyond Words"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Prayer Beyond Words<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Friday, October 5, 2018<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2FxaUYjRtkc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nThe two paths of knowing and not-knowing are primarily taught through prayer itself! No wonder all spiritual teachers emphasize prayer so much.<br \/>\nIn Jesus\u2019 teaching and example, we may first notice the prayer of words in the Our Father and his encouragement to \u201cask\u201d and \u201cknock\u201d (Matthew 7:7). From these and Jesus\u2019 prayer at the Last Supper, Christians have developed various forms of social, public, and liturgical prayer, often centering around intercession, gratitude, and worship.<br \/>\nBut Jesus also taught prayer beyond words: \u201cpraying in secret\u201d (Matthew 6:5-6), \u201cnot babbling on as the Gentiles do\u201d (Matthew 6:7), or his predawn, lonely prayer (Mark 1:35), because \u201cyour Father knows what you need even before you ask\u201d (Matthew 6:8). These all point toward what many today call contemplation\u2014openness to and union with God\u2019s presence; resting in God more than actively seeking to fully know or understand.<br \/>\nGiven Jesus\u2019 clear model and instruction, it seems strange that wordy prayer took over in the monastic Office, in the Eucharistic liturgy, and in formulaic prayer like the Catholic rosary and Protestant memorizations. It\u2019s all the more important that these be balanced by prayer beyond words.<br \/>\nMuch of Buddhism\u2019s attraction for so many people today is that Buddhism is absolutely honest about the theology of darkness\u2014about our inability to know. It is much more humble than the monotheistic religions are about the possibilities of words and formulas. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam took a great risk in relying on words.<br \/>\nIn the Christian tradition this \u201cWord became flesh\u201d (John 1:14), but we didn\u2019t want flesh. We didn\u2019t want an embodied relationship with God. Instead we wanted words with which we could proclaim certainties and answers. The price the three \u201creligions of the book\u201d have paid for a certain idolatry of words is that they became the least tolerant of the world\u2019s religions. Both Buddhism and Hinduism tend to be much more accepting of others than we are.<br \/>\nAt their lower levels, the three monotheistic religions insist on absolute truth claims in forms of words, whereas Jesus\u2019 truth claim was his person (John 14:6), his presence (John 6:35), his ability to participate in God\u2019s perfect love (John 17:21-22). Emphasizing perfect agreement on words and forms (which is never going to happen anyway!), instead of inviting people into an experience of the Formless Presence, has caused much of the violence of human history. Jesus gives us his risen presence as \u201cthe way, the truth, and the life.\u201d At that level, there is not much to fight about, and in fact fighting becomes uninteresting and counter-productive to the message. Presence is known by presence from the other side. It is always subject to subject knowing, never subject to object.<\/p>\n<p>__________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #333333; cursor: text; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman','Bitstream Charter',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;\">Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling <\/span><\/p>\n<p>October 5, 2018<\/p>\n<p>REMEMBER THAT JOY is not dependent on your circumstances. Some of the world\u2019s most miserable people are those whose circumstances seem the most enviable. People who reach the top of the ladder career-wise are often surprised to find emptiness awaiting them. True Joy is a by-product of living in My Presence. Therefore you can experience it in palaces, in prisons . . . anywhere.<\/p>\n<p>Do not judge a day as devoid of Joy just because it contains difficulties. Instead, concentrate on staying in communication with Me. Many of the problems that clamor for your attention will resolve themselves. Other matters you must deal with, but I will help you with them. If you make problem solving secondary to the goal of living close to Me, you can find Joy even in your most difficult days.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HABAKKUK 3: 17\u2013 19; Although the fig-tree shall not blossom \u2014 Though all outward means of support should fail, yet will I still have a firm confidence in the power (of God)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1 CHRONICLES 16: 27;\u00a0Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prayer Beyond Words Friday, October 5, 2018 The two paths of knowing and not-knowing are primarily taught through prayer itself! No wonder all spiritual teachers emphasize prayer so much. In Jesus\u2019 teaching and example, we may first notice the prayer of words in the Our Father and his encouragement to \u201cask\u201d and \u201cknock\u201d (Matthew 7:7). [&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":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17319"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17323,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17319\/revisions\/17323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}