MARCH NEWSLETTER

THE HEART OF PRAYER-RECOLLECTION

"The word recollection suggests gathering together again the fragments of our original wholeness."

Brother David Steindl-Rast from "Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer"

I sat helpless as I watched the tragedy taking place in Asia. Thousands killed in hours. Like many others I know I reached for my checkbook and found the best place I could to donate money. I sat in front of the TV and cried as I watched sisters and brothers and mothers and fathers and babies washed away from one another. Still, I wanted to do more. Whenever I pass an accident on the road or hear of deaths on the news I go into prayer for those who are passing over. In Judaism we say a Kaddish for the dead, a prayer to support them in this transitioning. After donating money to help the survivors I found myself drawn to go into prayer to support those who died.

What is prayer? Certainly all religions engage in some sort of prayer. One could even say that prayer is at the heart of all religions and at the heart of a spiritual approach to life. What is the common thread that ties together spiritual practices from different cultures and different times? What are we doing when we pray? Is prayer important or even helpful? These are questions whose answers could fill a book.

The Catholic mystic practices recollection. I love that word, recollection. It suggests a remembering of something forgotten, something that does not need to be attained but is already there. When we sit down to meditate we are not creating something new in our consciousness. We are returning to our original nature. There is an element of remembering in all prayer. We are remembering to be in the beauty and wonder of the moment. We are remembering original goodness. If we are practicing a Western religion we are returning to God. If we are practicing Buddhism we are returning to the ground of all being. This is not hard to do. Take a moment and feel the air around you. Hear the sounds around you remembering that hearing is a miracle, that each sound is a miracle whether it be harsh or sweet. Sense your body, feel your breath be aware of being alive. You are now reading these word and my heart is touching your heart. Even though I wrote these words awhile ago and you are reading them now, even though you live far away from me, somehow these little marks on your computer screen have the power to connect us in this moment. This is a miracle. The awareness of this miracle is being in a state of prayer.

From this state of awareness we can direct our thoughts to opening towards greater good for ourselves and others. Dr. Dossey’s book, "Healing Words" provides scientific evidence that prayer for ourselves and for others has a quantitative effect, even if the recipient doesn’t know that we are praying for them. Prayer is effective. The deeper our connection with our true nature, the more we are coming from love, the more powerful our prayers will be.

I became a Religious Science Practitioner to learn how to pray. What Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science, did was draw from the different wisdom traditions, with particular emphases on the bible, to outline an effective mode of prayer which he called treatment. I would like to share the 5 steps of treatment with you so that if any of these stages strike you as useful you can add them to your own spiritual practice.

The first stage of the five step prayer is unification. This is the most important step. Done alone it is highly effective, added to the other 4 steps it is even more powerful. During the first step of prayer we practice recollection. We sit and remember what God is by focusing on what we know to be the qualities of God. In Buddhism this step could be translated as returning to the present moment with an open expansive awareness. During this step we settle into the deeper truth of the moment, the wonderment of life, the beauty and abundance of everything around us and the love that is at the heart of all things. We practice recollection however it works for us. Some people get there by looking around and feeling a deep sense of gratitude. Some people need to spend more time consciously remembering that which is behind appearances. There are many ways to achieve a state of gratitude and we each find our own way.

During the second stage of prayer we remember that if this Universe is one interconnected, perfect whole and if this wholeness is all there is than we must be part of that whole. We really let it sink in that we are made of the same stuff that stars and roses are made of. We are one with the Power that moves the planets and when we align ourselves with that power our self concept shifts. We become one with all things.

The third stage is where we state that which we are praying for. If we are praying for harmony in our home we remember that harmony is the nature of God, or the Universe, that we are a vital aspect of this universe and that harmony is available in limitless supply when we align ourselves with our true nature. If we are praying for health at this point we say or think something such as " My body knows how to heal itself. I support my body in every way possible so that it may heal itself. I release anything getting in the way of this healing and open to support all around me."

During the fourth stage we give heartfelt thanks for this healing in advance. It is with confidence that we are grateful for what is occurring in our body right now. During the fifth stage we simply release this prayer with full confidence that it is done. And so it is.

This is an abbreviated description of the five stages of prayer. There are whole books written on this subject. I studied for 4 years to learn the ins and outs of this type of prayer and continue to feel more deeply into this practice. I just wanted to open up the discussion of prayer by sharing with you the method I use. The method is not as important as our state of mind while praying. Whether you use the concept of God or not, prayer brings us to a joyful state of wonderment and awe from which healings emanate. Prayer can only be practiced in the present moment. This returning to the present moment is a source of great happiness in and of itself.

The bottom line is the more we pray the more we live in alignment with God, the Universe, our true natures. Prayer does not require sitting down in perfect silence. We can pray while we wash our dishes by remembering to be in the present moment with the dish, by allowing joy and awe at the miracle of life to wash over us as we feel gratitude for water and hands and soap coming together now. Do not underestimate the power of your prayers to align yourself and others with a state of joy and wonderment which leads to more flow in our lives and miracle after miracle.

PRACTICE: Start the day by taking a few moments to bring yourself into the present moment. Allow yourself to open to a state of awe and wonderment for seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling. From that awareness feel your power. Feel the love that is behind the power and relax into the realization of being supported by life. Speak your prayer into that awareness of limitless possibilities. Extend that feeling of happiness and freedom to those around you who need your prayers.

Jacqueline