The Importance of Prayer

Lesson
Written By Josefina Card

Prayer nourishes the spiritual gifts
we were given at birth by our Creator.

 

Each of us has been endowed at birth by our Creator with remarkable spiritual gifts, including:

  • an Inner Whisper, an internal travel guide and companion that gently steers us throughout life to the right path leading to faith, hope and love; and

  • discernment skills to distinguish the voice of the Inner Whisper from contrary prods that lead us astray with false promises or threats.

A regular prayer practice nourishes these spiritual gifts. Prayer is a universal phenomenon. Just as our body requires food, drink, and exercise to remain physically fit, our soul needs a regular prayer practice to remain spiritually fit – to be able to hear the Inner Whisper, to discern wisely the right action in any given moment.

As the birthright of all human beings, the Inner Whisper is not tied to any religion. Prayer is similarly inclusive. Prayer is found in all religions across all human history, from primitive peoples to modern mystics. Prayer encompasses many practices that go beyond those required or encouraged by a particular religion.

There are many forms of prayer. Cataphatic prayer (such as the Christian “Our Father,” spiritual reading, or spiritual poetry) uses images and words to communicate with the sacred. In contrast, apophatic prayer (such as mindfulness meditation or body movement) involves letting go of images and words to sit, kneel, bow, stand, walk, or even dance in silent oneness with the holy. Such variety in the way human beings communicate with the divine is not surprising because we humans are a diverse lot. We represent different genders, ages, cultures, religions, political persuasions, socioeconomic classes, races, ethnicities. We enjoy different foods, movies, music, art, leisure activities. We interact with and show love for one another in different ways, different languages, gestures, gifts.

Why should it be any different in our relationship with God?

Pause and Reflect:

1.     Prayer is simply spending time with the Holy One, whether in silence or conversation. How do you choose to spend time with the Holy One? Do you prefer cataphatic prayer (using words or images to communicate with the holy) or apophatic prayer (resting in the holy without words)?

2.     Do you have a regular prayer practice? When and where do you usually find the holy?

 

The above is an excerpt from the book
Traveling: A Spiritual Seeker’s Guide,
by Josefina J. Card
© 2024 Hearken Books
available from amazon.com
and in the Philippines from bookshelf.com.ph

 

Copyright Hearken Books.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without written permission from Hearken Books is strictly prohibited.


Josefina Card

Josefina J. Card, PhD, is Founder and President of Sociometrics Corporation. For over 40 years she worked with generous funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health to assemble exemplary social and behavioral health datasets and evidence-based behavior change programs, and distribute these resources to schools, clinics, and communities around the globe. She is a trained spiritual director who now brings her decades of work promoting healthy behavior change to the world of spiritual transformation.

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The Inner Whisper