The Daily Message
Concerning prayer
What do we see when watching one praying? We see one talking to himself, who humiliates himself kneeling or assuming a devout position, or one who realizes this gesture ensuring that nobody sees him, afraid of the ridicule? Therefore, how can we approach this experience, always current, in spite of all the critics and analyses that come from the territory of the civilized world, in which one has conquered almost all to be conquered in order to convince himself of his superiority?
In the rather few texts about prayer, this spiritual experience is usually presented with emphasis on its main methods, functions and senses. It would be interesting to consider an approach that firstly revealed whet prayer isn‘t, that is an attempt to limit a defining background by alienating, with care, all aspects that might put it under a false light.
We might start by saying that the prayer is not a request. When a person prays, it does not mean that he presents the divinity a set of needs or problems that have to be resolved. It is true that when someone asks somebody else for something, he has at least the hunch that that somebody else may help him or may respond to his need. Despite this hunch, the prayer cannot be reduced at wording some requests. It is a paradox that man, although in front of the divinity, has the conscience of some problems or needs that he thinks cannot be handled by anybody else. We all know the saying: „I am so sinful that not even God can forgive me”. At this level of the discussion, certainly, somebody might assert that the prayer appears as the expression of one in need or in great necessity. Somebody else might object that, on the contrary, the prayer is urged by God Himself, as a call, to educate the man with regards to his state of sin and the solution presented as gift. Well, we may dare to ask beyond these aspects: is the prayer tied only to man‘s problems, to his state of sin and fall? If the answer is yes, then we must find its relevance according to the issue raised and its solution. If the answer is no, then it must be considered from a broader perspective. At this point, our own language and forms of discourse are helpful. When we want to approach somebody, the most expressive communication does not come from an authoritarian, demanding position, but from a soliciting one, which takes into account and emphasizes the other‘s personality. Thus, usually, in our vocabulary, the expression: „Please” or „Would you please” is very common. As means of communication, the prayer seems to be one of the most efficient assertions, by the use of the power of the word. The prayer becomes therefore, one of the most powerful manners of realizing the resemblance with God. Not only does the word make the man superior to any other creature, but it gives him the chance of resembling the Creator and expressing himself at this level. Furthermore, the prayer can be considered as the most intense and high possibility of the man to realize himself and to respond to God. The prayer is not only a means of expressing our needs or just divine pedagogy, but also the most elevate expression of communication that one can achieve.
The one who prays is not alone, even if the act is delivered in the intimacy of his home, or in a public space. The prayer is not an individual act, is not a matter between a certain man and God. The prayer does not allow the vision of a „face” of God or an experience for the self which gave the impression of sufficiency (”God and I are the majority”). On the contrary, the prayer is a personal act, a community achievement. One cannot talk to God but with the conscience of the other, that is why he takes the shape of „Our Father” and not „My Father”. The can only understand the essence of the prayer in its doxological form. The prayer is symphony, a multiple voice chorus. When one prays, he must be conscious of this symphony, that he is a voice in a great chorus, otherwise his prayer becomes idolatry. The need of the other while praying is the need of identity confirmation and its preservation while one is taking this step towards God in the act of praying. When praying, the one is not represented by himself, but by the relations confirming him. The prayer demands a permanent updated presence of all the righteous witnesses - believers and devoted to all saints and angels. This update turns the man‘s discourse into prayer, and this prayer is an effective reality, productive, with results. As Rozanov commented, the one who prays will conquer the world, is a winner.
The prayer is not a monologue. The one who prays does not speak to himself. The prayer is not only a spoken or thought word by somebody and performed continuously. When one prays, he must be careful not only at what he says, at the words or phrases he formulates. Even when one says learnt prayers, the purpose is not the endless repetition of those words. The precipitation of formulating and saying those words is damaging in prayer. The avalanche of words may replace the prayer with a monologue, may turn it into a one way street. The prayer is a dialogue; it is a two way communication. The prayer is a space of encountering God on the land of the word, of communication. When one prays, he must pay attention to the other sense, the response. As any dialogue, the prayer supposes transmission, but also reception of the message. The part implying listening or receiving a message from the addressee is the most difficult one. The difficulty is not intrinsic, does not depend on the nature of the prayer, but of the way we were taught to perform it. As Kierkegaard says the real prayer begins when we know how to be silent, to listen, to use words with reason and even to stop using them. Words have their importance in the prayer but may realize an exteriority that we can employ as a screen to hide us. When praying, it is important both what we hear and what we say, what we give, and what we receive. As in any dialogue, there are accents too. Sometimes the accent falls on saying, formulating, and the importance of the other is passive, to listen and the offer sender the feeling of being listened. Some other times, the accent falls on receiving, getting back. But, if the rule is concentrated on formulating messages, we have no prayer, but a monologue.
The one who starts praying does not perform an act of obedience. Praying is not low, even if it may be accompanied by gestures of devoutness (kneeling or facing the ground). When one prays he does not lose his dignity or grace. He does not give up on himself or on something inside him. Praying involves an act of recognition, which is reciprocal. One truly prays when he recognizes that the One he addresses. In biblical language, it is about recognizing God‘s grace, His quality of Creator and Sovereign, Savior and Judge. But this recognition is reciprocal. When one prays God recognizes his grace, his statute, and his qualities. Prayer is possible only on the ground of his recognition and reciprocal knowledge. Thus, prayer becomes a space of self assertion, of both one and especially God. Prayer is a true challenge for each partner. God answers a prayer in order to reveal Himself, to show His grace, to be glorified. One engages himself in this prayer to affirm his dignity, his grace of being the son of God. This dimension of recognition turns the prayer, not only into a solemn act, but also into an exigent reality, of high class and quality. When the Savior was saying that prayer is not a mumbling of words and was giving us as model „Dear Father”, he was teaching us something. The prayer to the Lord begins with some assertions that clearly emphasize reciprocal recognition. There is something more here. God does not need prayer to be glorified or to receive gratefulness. When one prays and recognizes God‘s glory in his words or glorifies God, he only opens the door to dialogue. God‘s answer appears immediately, in the same terms. God does not receive the glory brought by the one in his prayer as a selfish act, but as something that brings him a plus or a service. In His prayer, God does the same thing, even more: he returns the glory to the man, he lifts his spirit and shares with him all Hid grace. That is why the prayer reaches the sky in worship, in doxology. It is the modality in which we can best express the feelings for the divine Being, in which we recognize in the most profound way its identity.
The prayer is not a duty or a commandment. One does not pray because he has to or somebody asks him to, be that even God. It is interesting though that the prayer is perceived as a burden, as something difficult to accomplish.
In the Christian pedagogy, prayer is imposed to the novices as an elementary exercise of spiritual life, until a new understanding of it is achieved. In this sense, there are several methods and techniques of praying. But prayer is not an exercise that can be done according to a pattern, or a method. Respecting the method does not guarantee the achievement of the desired result. The prayer is an exercise of freedom. It is an adventure of the spirit in encountering God and the others. That is why, the prayer is always new. Even when it is repeated as learnt, it is always new, because it is a new impetus on the ways of the spirit, it is a free act of the human being who wants to communicate with God. The mystics associated the prayer with respiration. The prayer is the respiration of the soul, but not as a necessity, but as a choice, as something wanted. If the authentic life is the expression of the relationship with God, the source of life, then, the prayer, the communication with God can only be the free engagement in this relationship, in various forms. As free exercise of man, the prayer can only be limited to a sum of models and methods. It is achieved according to the personality of each one, to the degree of maturity of each one, to the means of exercising freedom characteristic to each individual. Since we are beings of creation in the space of freedom, the prayer itself follows a road of creation. Consequently, assisting in prayer, it education and its indenture are much more important. The one has religious instinct, feels the calling towards the Divinity, but the real prayer is learnt. There is an art of praying, because it is a creative act, an expression of the free spirit that reaches another.
The prayer is not a daily report formulated with a certain frequency in front of God. It is not the report of sins or positive achievements; it is not the clear presentation of a list of requests, problems or needs, personal or foreign. If we are to accept the biblical truth that God knows all things, even before thinking or saying them, and that praying resumes to presenting this already known things, than what is the purpose of praying? What is the purpose of saying things that we know that God already has knowledge of? Isn‘t it a useless action? Well, God knows all things, but does not know our opinion on them. The prayer is the value we give to things that God already knows, or has full knowledge of. The prayer is an interpretation of existence. When we pray we realize the hermeneutics, we give sense to things around us, things that we tell God. The sense of insisting on praying can be clearly seen here. When we return with some themes, problems, and people in our prayers, we don‘t mechanically repeat the same things we know, and are aware that God knows too. By praying we insist, we see more clearly and we see better, we manage to understand better what is happening to us, to others, to the world. Thus, prayer is means of knowledge; it brings some progress in the life of the one who says it. At the same time, a prayer is a weapon, an offensive weapon; it is the exercise of word in the world of spirit, where everything is tied and untied, where things are meaningful. Praying for people or problems does not mean only their mentioning in front of God, but implication, vision, sense, solutions. Praying makes one more responsible, and when you hear one praying you can realize the burden of his life. Mechanic prayers, repetitive, in wooden language, false or instinctual prove exactly the opposite. God waits with great interest our prayer, not only to confirm what he already knows, but to see our degree of participation to his creation. Thus, praying is a test. It is more useful to be silent, then to start praying insanely.
Praying is not a purpose, because once achieved it should disappear from our horizon. Praying is simply because one and God exist. It is part of the elementary data of our existence, confirmed by Jesus Christ Himself, the supreme model of the human being. Christ prayed not because he didn‘t need to (that is to achieve something), not because somebody asked him to or it was imposed on Him, but because he was a person. Praying is all about the personal existence of man, about his way of being. The new way of being, opened by Christ, is the authentic one; it is the way of the Son reporting to the Father, communicating with the Father. And this communication is praying.
Iassy, 30 December 2005
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