Published 4-18-11 - The Religion Network publishes every Monday
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Abraham Heschel, Adin Steinsaltz, Book of Jeremiah, Mahatma Gandhi, St. Augustine of Hippo

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Prayer takes the mind out of the narrowness of self-interest
and enables us to see the world in the mirror of the holy. For
when we betake ourselves to the extreme opposite of the ego,
we can behold a situation from the aspect of God...Prayer clarifies
our hope and intentions. It helps us discover our true aspirations,
the pangs we ignore, the longings we forget. It is an act of self-
purification, a quarantine for the soul. It gives us the opportunity
to be honest, to say what we believe, and to stand for what we
say. For the accord of assertion and conviction, of thought
and conscience, is the basis of all prayer.

...Sometimes prayer is more than a light before us; it is a light
within us. Those who have once been resplendent with this light
find little meaning in speculations about the efficacy of prayer.

From "Between God and Man,"
by Abraham J. Heschel
Free Press Paperbacks, 1959

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Prayer is a time of battle between mighty forces,
as the soul wrestles with all of the opposing
forces surrounding it.

This is a spiritual and physical effort in which one
concentrates thought and attention,
oblivious to everything outside.

The combination of such unswerving focus with the
effort to arrive at a higher level of union with the
Divine and a spiritual elevation demands what
the Tanya calls "a strenuous war."


Excerpted from "Pebbles of Wisdom,
from Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz,"
Collected and with notes by
Arthur Kurzweil
Jossey-Bass, 2009




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 Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement.
Properly understood and applied,
it is the most potent form of action.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Ideological and spiritual leader of India

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"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come
and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me
and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will
be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you
back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations
and places where I have banished you," declares the
Lord, "and will bring you back to the place from
which I carried you in exile."

Jeremiah 17:7-8
The Holy Bible
New International Version

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Pray as though everything depended on God.
Work as though everything depended on you.



St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
Bishop, philosopher and theologian