What Notable Men of God Have to Say About Prayer .  .  .  .  .  .  .

These quotations have been selected by our pastors for inclusion in our weekly newsletter to provide insight into this unique act of conversation with our Maker.

Thomas Merton On Prayer

The man whose prayer is so pure that he never 

 asks God for anything does not know who God is,

 and does not know who he is himself:  for he does

 not know his own need of God.

All true prayer somehow confesses our absolute

 dependence on the Lord of life and death.  It is,

 therefore, a deep and vital contact with Him

 whom we know not only as Lord but as Father.  

It is when we pray truly that we really are.  

Our being is brought to a high perfection by this.

September 30, 2007       

Thomas Merton’s Prayer

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am

following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road

Though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I  trust you always

Though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,

And you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

September 23, 2007       

An excerpt from The Meaning of Prayer

by Harry Emerson Fosdick

Now if God has left some things contingent on man’s thinking and working why may he not have left some things contingent on man’s praying?  The testimony of the great souls is a clear affirmative to this:  some things never without thinking; some things never without working; some things never without praying!  Prayer is one of the three forms of man’s cooperation with God.

September 16, 2007      

A Prayer from The Imitation of Christ

by Thomas á Kempis

My Lord Jesus, I beseech you do not be far from me, but come quickly and help me, for vain thoughts have risen in my heart and worldly fears have troubled me sorely.  How shall I break them down?  How shall I go unhurt without your help?

I go before you, says our Lord; I shall drive away the pride of your heart; then shall I set open to you the gates of spiritual knowledge and show you the privacy of my secrets.

O Lord, do as you say, and then all wicked imaginings shall flee away from me.  Truly, this is my hope and my only comfort – to fly to you in every trouble, to trust steadfastly in you, to call inwardly upon you, and to abide patiently your coming and your heavenly consolations which, I trust, will quickly come to me.

September 9, 2007