Their Secret, Prayer

I have asked many great spiritual leaders, like Mairead Maguire, Kathy Kelly, Arun Gandhi and yes even Mother Teresa, with whom I had the privilege of working in Calcutta, India, "What is your secret? How do you remain faithful and continue to do what you do, love in the face of such pain, suffering and violence?  All replied with the same one-word answer, "Prayer."  Their secret it seems, from their perspective, was as simple and as profound as the word, the act of, prayer.

What is prayer? Indeed, there is something mysterious or secretive about it.  Prayer occurs in the sacred and secretive depths of one's being, in the silence of the soul.  Prayer can be a conversation. Prayer can be total silence.  Prayer can occur when one is still or when when one sings or walks or works meditatively.  Prayer requires presence, full awareness and listening. Prayer pays attention. Prayer requires truth and honesty.  Prayer is about relationship.  Prayer is done all alone. Prayer is about blessing and being blessed.  Prayer searches.  Prayer accepts. Prayer can be playful.  Prayer can be pained.  Prayer is melody.  Prayer seeks harmony.  Prayer is question. Prayer is answer. Prayer heals. Prayer reconciles.  Prayer restores right relationship. Prayer liberates. Prayer cries out. And if we believe spiritual mentors and leaders from all traditions, cultures, geographies, across the millennia, prayer is the secret to living life to its fullest, to living a liberated life that sees most deeply the truth that we are mysteriously connected, that we are all sisters and brothers, beloved community.

Yesterday the Catholic Cardinals selected a Pope.  What many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, seemed to be moved, if not captivated, by was Pope Francis' first relational act with the people, he bowed humbly and asked the people to pray for him.  Clearly, by this simple, sacred act, he was rooting himself in prayer, not merely his own prayer, but the power of prayer, and his own need not only to pray but also to be prayed for.  The secret of prayer is that it simultaneously gives and receives, simultaneously sets the self aside and allows one to touch the depths of one's truest self.  

Call it what you will, we are being invited by these spiritual leaders to take time to pray, to meditate, to enter into silence, to be fully present to both our sacred gifts and our sacred neediness. Let us continue to hold one another in prayer, to bow to the divine present in each of us, to enter into the mystery and secret power that prayer possess, that we possess in prayer.